Optimization of electrochemical cell

ABSTRACT

A system and method for optimizing electrochemical cells including electrodes employing coordination compounds by mediating water content within a desired water content profile that includes sufficient coordinated water and reduces non-coordinated water below a desired target and with electrochemical cells including a coordination compound electrochemically active in one or more electrodes, with an improvement in electrochemical cell manufacture that relaxes standards for water content of electrochemical cells having one or more electrodes including one or more such transition metal cyanide coordination compounds.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application is a Continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 17/232,484 filed on Apr. 16, 2021; this Application is a Continuation-in-part of Application PCT/US20/63939 filed on Dec. 9, 2020; and application PCT/US20/63939 is a Box VI priority application Ser. No. 16/708,213 filed on Dec. 9, 2019; all the contents of these applications are hereby expressly incorporated by reference thereto in their entireties for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to electrochemical cells including a coordination compound electrochemically active in one or more electrodes, and more specifically, but not exclusively, to improvement in electrochemical cell manufacture by relaxing standards for water content of electrochemical cells having one or more electrodes including one or more transition metal cyanide coordination compounds; and also more specifically, but not exclusively, to improvement in electrochemical cell operation by controlling a water content of electrochemical cells having one or more electrodes including one or more transition metal cyanide coordination compounds.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.

Electrochemical cells are often characterized as using electrolytes that fall into one of two classes: (i) aqueous electrolytes or (ii) non-aqueous electrolytes. Examples of the former include lead acid cells and nickel/metal hydride cells. Examples of the latter include lithium-ion cells. It is well established that in cells containing non-aqueous electrolytes, any trace water impurity, even at a low concentration of parts-per-million, will degrade the performance of the cell in one or more performance metrics. The solution is therefore to implement additional costly and energy-intensive process steps such as vacuum-drying solid cell components, treating electrolytes or electrolyte solvents with desiccants, and preventing re-uptake of moisture by maintaining rigorous dry room processes for all the subsequent process steps including cell assembly. Electrode components will be dried as much as possible in an effort to remove as much trace water as possible. This process adds to the complexity, risk, and resource costs in production of these cell stacks.

Regarding water content for non-aqueous electrolyte-containing cells, for example, see Reference [1]—Imhof, with FIG. 6 of Reference [1] illustrating that an increasing amount of ppm-level water impurity decreases the reversibility of a charging/discharging process of a graphite electrode in a Li-ion cell. This is a conclusion of Reference [1] on page 1087: “experiments with EC/DMC-based electrolytes containing different amounts of water have shown that the Li+intercalation process becomes less reversible as the water content increases.” (References specifically identified below and incorporated herein as noted.)

Some materials used as an electrode in an electrochemical cell may include use of a transition metal cyanide coordination compound (TMCCC). In principle, electrochemical cells with TMCCC electrodes can be designed to use either aqueous or non-aqueous electrolytes. Aqueous electrolytes would be preferred due to their low cost and superior ionic conductivity. However, using aqueous electrolytes makes it necessary to limit the design to electrochemical cells with relatively low voltages, typically less than 1.5 V, in order to prevent the electrolytic decomposition of water into hydrogen and oxygen. Therefore, reference [2] treats electrochemical cells using a TMCCC material as the positive electrode as belonging to the (ii) non-aqueous class. Reference [2] describes methods for drying TMCCC electrode materials to improve cell performance. In particular, Reference [2] teaches a manganese hexacyanoferrate (MnHCF) TMCCC electrode material that is dried to a low enough residual water content that all of the interstitial water is removed. When this occurs, the MnHCF material undergoes a phase transition from a cubic phase to a rhombohedral phase (column 8). When this phase change occurs, all of the electrochemical capacity of the MnHCF electrode is captured in a single charge-discharge plateau. Having a single reaction plateau is desirable because it allows an electrochemical cell to be operated in a narrower voltage range, decreasing the cost and complexity of integrating the cell into other electronic systems. To achieve this result, Reference [2] further describes the use of a vacuum drying process in which the vacuum pressure is below 0.1 torr (column 7 and claim 1). Reference [2] includes a TMCCC in which a range of water may be present (z in a range of 0 to 3.5). However, column 8 describes in detail that all of the interstitial water must be removed from the structure to achieve the rhombohedral phase that has a single reaction plateau. Furthermore, in Reference [3] it is shown that the rhombohedral phase having a single reaction plateau is completely anhydrous. Throughout Reference [3], the single plateau phase is referred to as “anhydrated”, as opposed to the “hydrated” phase having two reaction plateaus. FIG. S2 is an idealized drawing of a unit cell, which cannot visualize the presence of a few % of vacancies and H₂O associated with these vacancies. The main manuscript includes elemental analysis results that indicate Na_(1.89)Mn[Fe(CN)₆]_(0.97) 1.87 H₂O before and Na_(1.89)Mn[Fe(CN)₆]_(0.97) 0.3 H₂O after vacuum drying. Should this analysis method be100% accurate, removing all non-coordinated but no coordinated water should result in z=0.18 instead of z=0.3, however this small difference of 0.12 is believed attributable to measurement errors. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would consider the teachings of Reference [2] and Reference [3] to indicate that the rhombohedral, single-plateau phase is achieved when all of the water is removed from the structure, or in terms relevant to claim 1 of Reference [2], when z=0.

Note that “anhydrated” as used in Reference [3] is not a commonly used term. It is usually defined as the anhydrous form of a material that typically contains water. A reasonable interpretation of Reference [3] is that “anhydrated” is synonymous with “anhydrous”, meaning a substance that contains no water or only a negligible quantity water as a trace impurity. In contrast, had Reference [3] referred to the vacuum dried MnHCF as “dehydrated”, then it would be commonly understood that either some or all of the water initially present in the material had been removed.

In contrast to these disclosures, electrochemical cells that use TMCCC materials as an electrode may not exclusively fall into these aqueous or non-aqueous classes, e.g., when one or more TMCCC electrodes with a substantial water content are combined with a non-aqueous electrolyte. Optimization of operation of an electrochemical cell including TMCCC materials by managing the water content and assembly may be more complex than heretofore appreciated by conventional battery manufacturing techniques. For example, Reference [2] emphasizes on the advantage of having the same electrochemical potential for oxidation/reduction of Mn and Fe sites. While having a wider capacity range within a narrow potential range may seem attractive, no consideration of other battery performance criteria was made in Reference [2]. For example, Reference [2] does not mention whether any improvement of calendar or cycle life can be achieved with their anhydrous cathode material having a rhombohedral crystal structure, nor whether their electrode material can deliver an acceptably high portion of its capacity within a narrow potential window if it is discharged at any faster rate than the 10-hour discharge shown in Reference [2], FIGS. 6B and 7A.

Commercialization costs for some electrochemical cell manufacturers include manufacture or purchases of electrolytes. The higher the standard that is used for reducing water impurity levels in electrolytes having water, the greater the costs of those electrolytes which is directly related to consumer costs of completed cells, and thus ultimately on the adoption of these types of electrochemical cells.

What may be beneficial is a system and method for optimizing electrochemical cell manufacturing by reducing commercialization costs, including reduction of electrolyte costs used in their manufacturing.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Disclosed is a system and method for optimizing electrochemical cell manufacturing by reducing commercialization costs, including reduction of electrolyte costs used in their manufacturing. The following summary of the invention is provided to facilitate an understanding of some of the technical features related to managing water content of electrolytes and of electrodes including TMCCC materials, and is not intended to be a full description of the present invention. A full appreciation of the various aspects of the invention can be gained by taking the entire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as a whole. The present invention is applicable to other electrochemically active compounds in addition to TMCCC materials, particularly those that include water disposed in a crystal structure locations and water disposed in a non-coordinated manner.

Also disclosed is a system and method for optimizing electrochemical cells including electrodes employing coordination compounds. The following summary of the invention is provided to facilitate an understanding of some of the technical features related to managing water content of electrodes including TMCCC materials, and is not intended to be a full description of the present invention. A full appreciation of the various aspects of the invention can be gained by taking the entire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as a whole. The present invention is applicable to other coordination compounds in addition to TMCCC materials, particularly those that include water disposed in a crystal structure locations and water disposed in a non-coordinated manner.

Electrochemical cells in which energy storage is achieved by ion intercalation in transition metal cyanide coordination compounds (TMCCC) capable of co-intercalation of water have an advantage that the TMCCC materials may serve two important and concurrent/related functions: ion intercalation and removal of water from organic electrolytes. Partially dehydrating TMCCC electrodes, e.g., by vacuum-drying, prior to cell assembly allows for a substantial relaxation of specifications for the non-aqueous cell electrolyte regarding allowable concentration of water impurities. One reason is that the impurities will be absorbed, once specified correctly, into the TMCCC electrode material without any disadvantage to cell performance and cycle life. And these substantially relaxed specifications allow the material costs to be greatly reduced, further promoting use and development of these electrochemical materials and systems.

An embodiment of the present invention includes electrode materials that have a capacity to capture and release water within a total water budget for the electrodes that do not substantially degrade electrode operation. Contrary to what would be generally assumed by those skilled in the art, we found that many TMCCC materials require a substantial content of interstitial water in order to achieve optimal cell performance, and that such interstitial water does not substantially accelerate cell degradation when its amount is kept within an appropriate range. In contrast to a conventional view of a water impurity concentration that should be reduced as much as possible, electrochemical cells including an electrode having TMCCC active materials maintain water within upper and lower bounds, with some battery performance characteristics optimized at specified water concentrations.

An embodiment of the present invention includes removal of water from such electrode materials prior to assembly of an electrochemical cell in which the electrode operates in an electrolyte containing water. The electrodes are prepared pre-assembly, e.g., dehydrating the electrode materials to have a water content less than optimum, and then disposed in communication with a water-containing electrolyte having a pre-assembly water content greater than what could be commercially obtained at greater cost. After assembly, the desiccating character of the electrode removes water from the electrolyte to move the electrode towards more optimum operation while purifying the less-expensive electrolyte to produce a post-assembly electrochemical cell at lower overall cost. The same endpoint could be achieved by tight specification of the electrochemical components pre-assembly and implementing appropriate manufacturing facilities and conditions to maintain these water budgets so that the post-assembly specification is achieved. However, that latter process adds extra costs as compared to the use of the electrode as a desiccant.

An embodiment of the present invention may include improved manufacturing. As less aggressive water removal processes may be required, some of the processing steps may be simplified. For example, an aspect of the present invention includes assembly of an entire electrochemical cell, or a collection of such cells into a cell stack, one or more cells including at least one electrode with a TMCCC material having a water content outside desired range(s), and then optimizing the water in the assembled cell or cell stack. This is in contrast to dehydrating/hydrating the individual materials and then assembling using the dehydrated/hydrated materials.

An embodiment of the present invention may include a method of optimizing cell performance including dehydrating/hydrating at least one electrode to a controlled residual water content that includes a lower water concentration than desired for post-assembly operation and an electrolyte having a higher concentration of water than desired post-assembly (which reduces its cost for manufacture/purchase). The process of assembly of an electrochemical cell with these components in these states prior to the assembly allows the assembly process to transfer water from the electrolyte into one or more electrodes, which lowers the post-assembly concentration of water in the electrolyte while increasing a water concentration in the electrodes. A characteristic of TMCCC active materials in electrodes of electrochemical cells allows the increased water concentration to not degrade or appreciably negatively impact the desired electrochemical properties of the electrodes.

An embodiment of the present invention may include a composition of matter of an electrochemical cell in which one or more electrodes contain a set nonzero amount of water wherein a specific amount of water (i.e., greater than zero and less than a threshold), distinguished from electrochemical cells with one or more electrodes containing TMCCC materials having an undefined n>0 amount of water. The electrodes and electrolytes have a number of states including water concentrations for as-synthesized, pre-assembly (such as after partially drying the synthesized materials, and post-assembly electrolytes and electrodes.

A method for producing an electrochemical cell having an electrode configured to be disposed in communication with an electrolyte, may include configuring a pre-installation electrode to include an impurity-absorbing material, the pre-installation electrode having an initial set of electrical characteristics; and thereafter, communicating the pre-installation electrode with the electrolyte, the electrolyte including, prior to the communicating, an initial set of impurities at a pre-installation concentration; and thereafter; absorbing, with the pre-installation electrode, an impurity from the initial set of impurities; wherein the absorbing step removes the impurity from the electrolyte; and wherein the absorbing step configures, using the impurity, the pre-installation electrode as a post-absorption electrode; and wherein the post-absorption electrode includes a post-absorption set of electrical characteristics greater than the initial set of electrical characteristics. This impurity may be water and the impurity-absorbing material may include a TMCCC material in one or both of an anode electrode or a cathode electrode.

An electrochemical cell including a pre-communication electrolyte, including a pre-communication electrode including an impurity-absorbing material, the pre-communication electrode having an initial set of electrical characteristics prior to a communication of the pre-communication electrode to the pre-communication electrolyte; wherein the pre-communication electrolyte, configured for the communication to the pre-communication electrode, includes an initial set of impurities at a pre-communication concentration prior to the communication of the pre-communication electrode to the pre-installation electrolyte; and wherein the communication transfers an impurity from the initial set of impurities to the pre-communication electrode producing a post-absorption electrode; wherein the post-absorption electrode includes a post-absorption set of electrical characteristics greater than the initial set of electrical characteristics. The impurity may include water and the impurity-absorbing material may include a TMCCC material.

An electrochemical cell including a cell stack having a liquid electrolyte, an anode electrode, a separator, and a cathode electrode, the electrodes electrochemically communicated with the liquid electrolyte, with the cell stack having an as-synthesized set of properties, a pre-communication set of properties before the electrodes are electrochemically communicated with the liquid electrolyte, and a post-communication set of properties after the electrodes are electrochemically communicated with the liquid electrolyte; wherein the anode electrode and the cathode electrode each contain a transition metal cyanide coordination compound material having a composition conforming to formula I, formula I including A_(x)P_(y)[R(CN)₆]_(z)(H₂O)_(n); wherein A represents an alkali cation and P and R each represent a multivalent transition metal cation; wherein 0.5<z<1; and wherein n=6*(1−z)+m_(k), with n>0, with k=0 to 4 identifying the as-synthesized material (k=0) and a set of states for the electrodes, and with 6*(1−z) associated with a quantity of coordinated water of the compound material, and with each m_(k)>0, each mk associated with a quantity of interstitial water of the compound material for one of the states of the electrodes, with each said quantity mk of interstitial water being equivalent to a weight percentage M_(k)=mk*W_(H2O)/W_(dry)*100%, with W_(H2O) being the molecular weight of water and W_(dry) being the molecular weight for the composition of formula I excluding all of its water content (or substantially all), with M₀ associated with an as-synthesized set of properties for said electrode, with M₁ associated with a pre-communication set of properties for the anode electrode, with M₂ associated with a pre-communication set of properties for the cathode electrode, with M₃ associated with a post-communication set of properties for the anode electrode, and with M₄ associated with a post-communication set of properties for the cathode electrode; and wherein the liquid electrolyte includes a polar organic solvent combined with an alkali metal salt and water having a water concentration, the water concentration including a pre-communication water concentration c1 and including a post-communication water concentration c2 and wherein c1>c2; wherein the as-synthesized set of properties includes M₀ up to 45% for formula I materials; wherein the M₁ includes a range between 1% and 12% for formula I materials of the anode electrode with M₁≤M₃; wherein the M₂ includes a range between 1% and 12% for formula I materials of the cathode electrode with M_(2≤)M₄; and wherein M₃+M₄>M₁+M₂. Note that this 45% is based on an extreme end of atomic compositions with z=0.5 and M_(k)=4.0, i.e., 2 H₂O molecules per interstitial site. This value is 22.5% when the limit is set to M_(k)=2.0 instead. The dry molecular weight varies widely over the z range; for Na_(x)Mn^(II) _(1.0)[Mn^(II)(CN)₆]_(z) it is 160.5 g/mol at z=0.5 and 312 g/mol at z=1.0. This informs one of a meaningfulness of expressing M_(k)in dry weight %.

An embodiment for the cell and the method may include c1<1,000 ppm and with c2<100 ppm or c2<100, the polar organic solvent may include a mononitrile (which may sometimes have the liquid electrolyte including a dinitrile as an additive), the anode and cathode formula I materials may be substantially the same or different, and permutations of values for M₁, M_(2,) M₃, and M₄ maintain the identified boundary conditions: M₁<M₃, M₂<M₄, and M₃+M₄>M₁+M₂. (e.g., M₁=M₃, M₂=M₄ or M₁<M₃ and M₂<M₄), and permutations and combinations thereof.

A method for assembling an electrochemical cell, including a) assembling a cell stack having a liquid electrolyte, an anode electrode, a separator, and a cathode electrode, the electrodes electrochemically communicated with the liquid electrolyte after the assembling step, with the cell stack having an as-synthesized set of properties, a pre-assembly set of properties before the electrodes are electrochemically communicated with the liquid electrolyte, and a post-assembly set of properties after the electrodes are electrochemically communicated with the liquid electrolyte; b) transferring water, responsive to the assembling step, from the liquid electrode to at least one of the electrodes; and c) decreasing, responsive to the transferring water step, a concentration of water in the liquid electrolyte; wherein the anode electrode and the cathode electrode each contain an active material including a transition metal cyanide coordination compound material having a composition conforming to formula I, formula I including A_(x)P_(y)[R(CN)₆]_(z)(H₂O)_(n); wherein A represents an alkali cation and P and R each represent a multivalent transition metal cation; wherein 0.5<z<1; and wherein n=6*(1−z)+m_(k), with n>0, with k=0 to 4 identifying the as-synthesized material (k=0) and a set of states for the electrodes, and with 6*(1−z) associated with a quantity of coordinated water of the compound material, and with each m_(k)>0, each mk associated with a quantity of interstitial water of the compound material for one of the states of the electrodes, with each said quantity mk of interstitial water being equivalent to a weight percentage M_(k)=m_(k)*W_(H2O)/W_(dry)*100%, with W_(H2O) being the molecular weight of water and W_(dry) being the molecular weight for the composition of formula I excluding all of its water content (or substantially all), with M₀ associated with an as-synthesized set of properties for said electrode, with M₁ associated with the pre-assembly set of properties for the anode electrode, with M₂ associated with the pre-assembly set of properties for the cathode electrode, with M₃ associated with the post-assembly set of properties for the anode electrode, and with M₄ associated with the post-assembly set of properties for the cathode electrode; and wherein the liquid electrolyte includes a polar organic solvent combined with an alkali metal salt and water having a water concentration, the water concentration including a pre-assembly water concentration c₁ and including a post-communication water concentration c₂ and wherein c₁>c₂; wherein the as-synthesized set of properties includes M₀ up to 45% for formula I materials; wherein the M₁ includes a range between 1% and 12% for formula I materials of the anode electrode with M₁≤M₃; wherein the M₂ includes a range between 1% and 12% for formula I materials of the cathode electrode with M₂<M₄; and wherein M₃+M₄>M₁+M₂.

A method for assembling an electrochemical cell, including assembling a cell stack having a liquid electrolyte including a quantity of electrolytic water, an anode electrode, a separator, and a cathode electrode, the electrodes electrochemically communicated with the liquid electrolyte during the assembling step, with the cell stack having an as-synthesized set of properties, a pre-assembly set of properties before the electrodes are electrochemically communicated with the liquid electrolyte, and a post-communication set of properties after the electrodes are electrochemically communicated with the liquid electrolyte, wherein the sets of properties each include a water concentration of the electrolyte and a quantity of component water in a component coupled to the liquid electrolyte of the cell stack; coupling, during the assembling step, the liquid electrolyte to the component; and transferring, during the coupling step, a post-assembly quantity of electrolytic water to the component water; and reducing, responsive to the transferring step, the water concentration of the liquid electrolyte.

An embodiment of the present invention includes a new class of battery cell that is based on electrodes that contain transition metal cyanide coordination compound (TMCCC) materials. These TMCCC materials naturally contain water. Some of the water they contain is tightly bound within the crystal structure of the material (e.g., lattice-bound), and some interstitial water may reversibly move in and out of the electrode as it is charged and discharged, and some water may be bound to various surfaces of particles of the TMCCC materials (collectively this non-lattice bound may be referred to herein as non-coordinated water). Some non-coordinated water may move in and out of the TMCCC material may then undergo chemical or electrochemical reactions with other cell components and may thereby cause degradation of cell performance. Based on Reference [1], [2], and [3], one may expect that removal of all water from the TMCCC material would enhance electrode and cell performance by eliminating these undesirable reactions. However, in a surprising result, total dehydration of a TMCCC material, including removal of the water that is tightly bound within the crystal structure, is demonstrated to degrade the performance of the wholly dehydrated TMCCC material. Note Reference [1], Reference [2], and Reference [3] do not appear to teach or discuss non-coordinated water including anything other than interstitial water. Other types of water may include surface water and water present in any pores within the TMCCC structure, including micropores. There may be several different reasons why these references do not discuss this type of water content, for example it may have been believed not to be relevant/impactful or its presence was not appreciated.

An embodiment of the present invention describes a process by which the performance of a cell containing one or more TMCCC materials may be optimized by providing the electrodes with an optimal amount of residual moisture (RM). Too high a RM, and enough non-coordinated, including mobile, water is present that cell performance may degrade. Too low a RM, and the TMCCC electrode performance is decreased. But by fine-tuning the RM of the electrode, an optimal balance of electrode and cell performance properties may be achieved. The moisture content may be regulated by partial dehydration and/or partial reabsorption of water to achieve a desired RM that is more than anhydrous but that may be less than the water content of a freshly synthesized, unprocessed TMCCC material. This intermediate quantity or concentration of electrode water content is an aspect of some embodiments of the present invention.

An embodiment of the present invention may include improved manufacturing. As less aggressive moisture removal processes may be required, some of the processing steps may be simplified. For example, an aspect of the present invention includes assembly of an entire electrochemical cell, or a collection of such cells into a cell stack, one or more cells including at least one electrode with a TMCCC material having a water content outside desired range(s), and then optimizing the water in the assembled cell or cell stack. This is in contrast to dehydrating/hydrating the individual materials and then assembling using the dehydrated/hydrated materials.

An embodiment of the present invention may include a method of optimizing cell performance including dehydrating/hydrating at least one electrode to a controlled residual moisture. Additional embodiments may include a target range of residual moistures, dehydrating/hydrating conditions/apparatus, and the like.

An embodiment of the present invention may include a composition of matter of an electrochemical cell in which one or more electrodes contain a set nonzero amount of water wherein a specific amount of water (i.e., greater than zero and less than a threshold), distinguished from electrochemical cells with one or more electrodes containing TMCCC materials having an undefined n>0 amount of water.

An embodiment of the present invention may include an electrode including a coordination compound, an electrochemical cell with one or more electrodes of such material, and/or an electrochemical cell stack including one or more such electrochemical cells, the coordination compound (e.g., a TMCCC material) having a crystal structure with residual moisture (RM) presented in at least two forms, a first form bound into the crystal structure and a second form with water free from the crystal structure (e.g., non-coordinated water) with a desired RM including the first form fully maintained to preserve the crystal structure and an optimally selected amount of the second form. The water content of the TMCCC material will always be greater than zero but having a maximum necessary or desired for the crystalline/lattice structure. The presence of additional non-coordinated water in a TMCCC above the amount included in a desired RM is considered an undesired impurity, the presence of which degrades operation, and desirably is reduced as are other undesired impurities.

An embodiment of the present invention includes performance improvement of an electrochemical cell having at least one electrode including TMCCC materials with a water content outside of a preferred water range with sufficient amounts of first-form residual moisture to maintain the crystal structure and electrochemical properties of the material and as little as possible of the second-form residual moisture to minimize non-coordinated or other non-crystal water, by adjusting the total residual moisture of one or more of the electrodes to be within the preferred water range.

An embodiment of the present invention may include a method of making an electrochemical cell including a cell stack including one or more anodes, one or more separators, and one or more cathodes, including a dehydrating/hydrating step in which the cell stack is exposed to a temperature and a pressure for a duration, wherein a first of either said anodes or said cathodes includes a first TMCCC material and includes a first residual moisture RM1, and wherein said dehydrating/hydrating step results in a decrease in the moisture of the TMCCC-containing electrodes to RM2<RM1, and wherein the first TMCCC material is described by the formula AxPy[R(CN)6]z(H2O)n wherein A includes one or more alkali cations, wherein P and R include one or more divalent or trivalent transition metal cations, wherein 0.5<z<1, wherein n=6*(1−z)+m, and wherein n>0, wherein 6*(1−z) is the quantity of lattice bound water and m is the quantity of non-coordinated water, and wherein m≥0.

A method of producing a cell stack for an electrochemical cell including a plurality of layers, each including an anode electrode, a cathode electrode, and a separator interposed therebetween, and wherein all of the anodes in the plurality of layers are in electronic communication, and wherein all of the cathodes in the plurality of layers are in electronic communication, and wherein at least one electrode includes a coordinated compound material including a water content quantity that includes a degradation of a set of electrochemical properties when present during an electrochemical cycling of the cell stack, including a) manufacturing a set of electrodes wherein at least a subset of the set of electrodes include the anode electrodes and the cathode electrodes with the coordination compound having the water content; b) assembling the cell stack using the subset of electrodes including the water content, the cell stack assembling b) producing an assembled cell stack having the subset of electrodes including the water content; and c) exposing the assembled cell stack having the set of subset of electrodes including the water content to a water mediating process configured to mediate the water content of the electrodes of the subset of electrodes within a mediated water content quantity; wherein the mediated water content quantity includes a reduction of the degradation of the set of electrochemical properties when present during an electrochemical cycling of the assembled cell stack.

A method of producing a cell stack of an electrochemical cell, including a plurality of layers, each layer including an anode electrode, a cathode electrode, and a separator interposed therebetween, and wherein all of the anodes in the plurality of layers are in electronic communication, and wherein all of the cathodes in the plurality of layers are in electronic communication, and wherein at least one electrode includes a coordinated compound material, having a residual moisture outside of a desired residual moisture profile, including a) assembling the cell stack while the residual moisture of the at least one electrode in each electrochemical cell is outside of the desired residual moisture profile; and thereafter: b) exposing the cell stack to a water mediating process to adjust the residual moisture of the at least one electrode in each electrochemical cell within the desired residual moisture profile.

An electrochemical cell includes a cell stack having a liquid anhydrous electrolyte, an anode electrode, a separator, and a cathode electrode, the electrodes electrochemically communicated with the liquid electrolyte; wherein at least one of the electrodes includes a hydrated transition metal cyanide coordination compound material having a composition conforming to formula I, formula I including A_(x)P_(y)[R(CN)₆]_(z)(H₂O)_(n); wherein A identifies as one or more alkali cations and P and R each represent one or more divalent or trivalent transition metal cations; wherein 0.5<z<1; wherein x, y, and z are related based on electrical neutrality, x>0, y>0, z>0; and wherein n=6*(1−z)+m, and wherein n>0; wherein 6*(1−z) identifies as a quantity of lattice bound water and m identifies as a quantity of non-coordinated water; wherein m≥0; wherein 0≤x≤2, and y=1. The hydrated transition metal cyanide coordination compound material may include a water content at least 0.01% by weight and may further include an upper range about 12%, by weight.

Advantages of some of the embodiments include an allowance for a reduction of production cost through a consolidation of separate dehydration processes for battery electrodes, electrolyte salts and electrolyte solvents into one or two process steps in which only the battery electrodes may be dehydrated. This is of particular advantage in using electrolytes made with organic solvents such as acetonitrile as solvent, because the manufacture of acetonitrile uses water as a process medium to isolate acetonitrile from its mixture with acrylonitrile, and further processing is needed to subsequently remove water from thus obtained acetonitrile. Furthermore, strict environmental humidity control may only be needed during cell stacking operations and not in the upstream process steps.

Any of the embodiments described herein may be used alone or together with one another in any combination. Inventions encompassed within this specification may also include embodiments that are only partially mentioned or alluded to or are not mentioned or alluded to at all in this brief summary or in the abstract. Although various embodiments of the invention may have been motivated by various deficiencies with the prior art, which may be discussed or alluded to in one or more places in the specification, the embodiments of the invention do not necessarily address any of these deficiencies. In other words, different embodiments of the invention may address different deficiencies that may be discussed in the specification. Some embodiments may only partially address some deficiencies or just one deficiency that may be discussed in the specification, and some embodiments may not address any of these deficiencies.

Other features, benefits, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent upon a review of the present disclosure, including the specification, drawings, and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally-similar elements throughout the separate views and which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, further illustrate the present invention and, together with the detailed description of the invention, serve to explain the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a representative secondary electrochemical cell schematic having one or more TMCCC electrodes disposed in contact with a cosolvent electrolyte as described herein;

FIG. 2 illustrates a unit cell of a TMCCC crystal structure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a process sequence for cell optimization by use of one or more water absorbing TMCCC electrodes;

FIG. 4 illustrates a concept view of select electrochemical cell components in an “as synthesized” state for water concentrations for an electrode and an electrolyte;

FIG. 5 illustrates the concept view of FIG. 4 with water concentration of an electrode adjusted from its as synthesized state illustrated in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates the concept view of FIG. 5 with water concentrations of the electrode and the electrolyte each changing by a transfer of water from the electrolyte to the electrode;

FIG. 7 illustrates a charge-discharge potential profile of a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate cathode electrode with optimized interstitial water content, showing three distinct reduction/oxidation potentials for N-coordinated Fe^(2+/3+), C-coordinated Fe^(2+/3+) and N-coordinated Mn^(2+/3+);

FIG. 8 illustrates a differential capacity plot derived from the potential profile in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 illustrates charge-discharge profiles of cells with TMCCC electrodes and electrolytes with varied water content;

FIG. 10 illustrates cell energy versus time during float testing;

FIG. 11 illustrates cell capacity versus time during float testing;

FIG. 12 illustrates a specific capacity of electrodes containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode material as a function of the residual moisture of the electrodes after drying;

FIG. 13 illustrates a total impedance and charge transfer resistance of electrodes containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode material as a function of the residual moisture of the electrodes after drying;

FIG. 14 illustrates an electrochemical impedance spectra of electrodes containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode material as a function of the residual moisture of the electrodes after drying;

FIG. 15 illustrates a total impedance and charge transfer resistance of electrodes containing a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate TMCCC cathode material as a function of the residual moisture of the electrodes after drying;

FIG. 16 illustrates a specific capacity of the capacity-limiting electrode of a full cell containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode and a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate TMCCC cathode—the capacity decreases as the weighted average residual moisture of the two electrodes decreases;

FIG. 17 illustrates a power density and energy density of the capacity-limiting electrode of a full cell containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode and a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate TMCCC cathode—both the power density and energy density decrease as the weighted average residual moisture of the two electrodes decreases;

FIG. 18 illustrates an electrochemical impedance spectra of full cells containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode and a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate TMCCC cathode as a function of the weighted average residual moisture of the two electrodes;

FIG. 19 illustrates a service life of full cells containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode and a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate TMCCC cathode during float testing at 45° C.;

FIG. 20 illustrates a table including residual moisture, coordinated water, and non-coordinated water before and after drying for selected examples of materials presented herein; and

FIG. 21 illustrates a table including a composition of various materials on a molar basis, and also including a calculation of a residual moisture, coordinated water, and non-coordinated water on a mass percentage basis.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method optimizing electrochemical cell manufacturing by reducing commercialization costs, including reduction of electrolyte costs used in their manufacturing. The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention and is provided in the context of a patent application and its requirements.

Various modifications to the preferred embodiment and the generic principles and features described herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiment shown but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.

Definitions

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this general inventive concept belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure, and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

The following definitions apply to some of the aspects described with respect to certain embodiments of the invention. These definitions may likewise be expanded upon herein.

As used herein, the term “or” includes “and/or” and the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

As used herein, the singular terms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to an object can include multiple objects unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Also, as used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on” another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may be present therebetween. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on” another element, there are no intervening elements present.

As used herein, the term “set” refers to a collection of one or more objects. Thus, for example, a set of objects can include a single object or multiple objects. Objects of a set also can be referred to as members of the set. Objects of a set can be the same or different. In some instances, objects of a set can share one or more common properties.

As used herein, the term “adjacent” refers to being near or adjoining. Adjacent objects can be spaced apart from one another or can be in actual or direct contact with one another. In some instances, adjacent objects can be coupled to one another or can be formed integrally with one another.

As used herein, the terms “connect,” “connected,” and “connecting” refer to a direct attachment or link. Connected objects have no or no substantial intermediary object or set of objects, as the context indicates.

As used herein, the terms “couple,” “coupled,” and “coupling” refer to an operational connection or linking. Coupled objects can be directly connected to one another or can be indirectly connected to one another, such as via an intermediary set of objects.

The use of the term “about” applies to all numeric values, whether or not explicitly indicated. This term generally refers to a range of numbers that one of ordinary skill in the art would consider as a reasonable amount of deviation to the recited numeric values (i.e., having the equivalent function or result). For example, this term can be construed as including a deviation of ±10 percent of the given numeric value provided such a deviation does not alter the end function or result of the value. Therefore, a value of about 1% can be construed to be a range from 0.9% to 1.1%.

As used herein, the terms “substantially” and “substantial” refer to a considerable degree or extent. When used in conjunction with an event or circumstance, the terms can refer to instances in which the event or circumstance occurs precisely as well as instances in which the event or circumstance occurs to a close approximation, such as accounting for typical tolerance levels or variability of the embodiments described herein.

As used herein, the terms “optional” and “optionally” mean that the subsequently described event or circumstance may or may not occur and that the description includes instances where the event or circumstance occurs and instances in which it does not.

As used herein, the term “size” refers to a characteristic dimension of an object. Thus, for example, a size of an object that is spherical can refer to a diameter of the object. In the case of an object that is non-spherical, a size of the non-spherical object can refer to a diameter of a corresponding spherical object, where the corresponding spherical object exhibits or has a particular set of derivable or measurable properties that are substantially the same as those of the non-spherical object. Thus, for example, a size of a non-spherical object can refer to a diameter of a corresponding spherical object that exhibits light scattering or other properties that are substantially the same as those of the non-spherical object. Alternatively, or in conjunction, a size of a non-spherical object can refer to an average of various orthogonal dimensions of the object. Thus, for example, a size of an object that is a spheroidal can refer to an average of a major axis and a minor axis of the object. When referring to a set of objects as having a particular size, it is contemplated that the objects can have a distribution of sizes around the particular size. Thus, as used herein, a size of a set of objects can refer to a typical size of a distribution of sizes, such as an average size, a median size, or a peak size. As used herein, the term “residual moisture” of a coordination compound, particularly a TMCCC material, refers to a total water content of the TMCCC. Residual moisture includes a total water mass divided by a total dry mass of the TMCCC material (the mass of the metals, CN groups, and any other chemical species such as chelating species). For example, in the case of a TMCCC with a dry mass of 100 g and a total water content of 10 g, then the residual moisture is calculated as 10 g water/100 g dry mass=10%.

As used herein, the term “residual water content” of a coordination compound, particularly a TMCCC material, refers to a total water content of the TMCCC. Residual water content includes a total water mass divided by a total dry mass of the TMCCC material (the mass of the metals, CN groups, and any other chemical species such as chelating species). For example, in the case of a TMCCC with a dry mass of 100 g and a total water content of 10 g, then the residual water content is calculated as 10 g water/100 g dry mass=10%.

As used herein, a water content of a class of coordination compound materials is a complex topic and refers to a hybrid residual water state which identifies a coordinated water content (e.g., coordinated water) and a non-coordinated water content (e.g., non-coordinated water). Non-coordinated water may be present in various ways, primarily as interstitial water and/or water bound to surfaces of particles of the coordination compound materials and/or water present in any pores or micropores within a TMCCC particle. As used herein, “coordinated water” is meant as an abbreviated term for “transition metal-coordinated water” and, as such, specifically describes water molecules that coordinate to transition metal atoms, and not to alkali metal ions. While the interaction between water and alkali metal ions could generally also be understood as “coordinated”, water molecules that interact with alkali ions and not with transition metal atoms are considered herein, due to their relatively weak interaction, as belonging to the category of non-coordinated water. Coordinated water molecules are strongly bound to transition metal atoms that are deficient in cyanide ligands; therefore, coordinated water is considered essential for stabilizing TMCCC materials. Non-coordinated water above a threshold included in an optimally selected residual water content would be considered an undesired impurity that degrades the desired electrochemical properties. However, removing all non-coordinated water may result in poor alkali cation mobility in the TMCCC material, leading to diminished cell energy available for high-power discharge, with only marginal improvement of cycle or calendar life of the cell. Therefore, in addition to coordinated water, a certain amount of non-coordinated water is also necessary and desired. As discussed herein, absent sufficient care, water management processes (e.g., drying) may not sufficiently distinguish between coordinated and non-coordinated water in a compound coordination material. Coordination compound materials discussed herein may be used in a system including a water-containing electrolyte which may influence the water content of the coordination compound material after assembly or during use. A coordination compound having its residual water adjusted to a desired non-degrading water content range is referred to herein as a water mediated coordination compound material. Similarly, a coordination compound having its residual water outside this range is referred to herein as a water non-mediated coordination compound material.

As used herein, the term “aqueous” in the context of an electrolyte for an electrochemical cell means an electrolyte including water as a solvent and one or more dissolved materials with the water solvent having a concentration greater than 5%.

As used herein, the term “non-aqueous” in the context of an electrolyte for an electrochemical cell means an electrolyte including a solvent other than water, with either no water being present or water having a concentration less than 5%.

As used herein, the term “anhydrous” in the context of an electrolyte for an electrochemical cell means an electrolyte including a solvent other than water, water as a trace impurity having a concentration less than 0.01%.

As used herein, the term “drying” in the context of removal of water from a material, refers to removal of water to the greatest degree possible consistent with the drying process leaving water as a trace impurity at a concentration limited by the drying process actually used. Drying changes a material to an anhydrous state (therefore a dried material is an anhydrous material).

As used herein, the term “dehydrating” in the context of modifying a concentration of water in a material, refers to controllably reducing the water content to a desired level greater than a trace impurity. In contrast to drying, dehydrating contemplates retaining water as necessary desirable component of the material, for example, retaining all coordinated water and retaining a certain residual content of non-coordinated water.

As used herein, the term “hydrating” in the context of modifying a concentration of water in a material, refers to controllably increasing the water content to a desired level greater than a trace impurity, within target ranges needed for optimal performance and calendar life of an electrochemical cell.

As used herein, the term “mediating” in the context of modifying a concentration of water content in a coordination compound such as a TMCCC material includes dehydrating or hydrating the material to achieve a desired coordinated water concentration that enables the desired electrochemical properties. One way to consider water content quantity mediation is consideration of a mass fraction of water of a TMCCC material, including non-coordinated and coordinated water, both before and after mediation.

The present disclosure addresses water in the context of TMCCC materials and secondary electrochemical cells including an electrode having a TMCCC material in communication with an electrolyte which may include water. The following definitions below address water concentration in a liquid, such as a liquid electrolyte inside a battery cell as well as water concentration in a solid material, such as a TMCCC material. Broadly, as used herein, liquids are referred to as aqueous or non-aqueous, with a water concentration threshold of about 0.5% differentiating between these two types of liquids. References to aqueous or non-aqueous, unless the context is inconsistent, refers to liquid materials. Further, broadly and as used herein, solids are referred to as hydrated or anhydrous, with a water concentration threshold of about 0.01% differentiating between these two types of solids. References to hydrated or anhydrous, unless the context is inconsistent, refers to solid materials.

Further, in a TMCCC solid, water is present in a zeolitic (or interstitial interchangeable with zeolitic) form and may optionally also include a coordinated (or lattice-bound interchangeable with coordinated) form.

An embodiment includes a composition of matter for one or more components of a secondary electrochemical cell in which one or more electrodes include this composition of matter. That composition of matter includes a hydrated TMCCC material including a hydration of 0.01% or more, wherein that water may be a combination of zeolitic and coordinated water, or just zeolitic water. In some embodiments, the formula for the composition of material identifies a “P” species that may be identified as two or more different transition metal cation species such as a species of iron (Fe) or manganese (Mn), or combinations thereof.

An embodiment includes a coordinated compound material having a mediated water content quantity identifying as a formula: A_(x)P_(y)[R(CN)₆]_(z)(H₂O)_(n), wherein A identifying as one or more alkali cations, wherein P and R identifies as one or more divalent or trivalent transition metal cations, wherein 0.5<z<1, wherein n=6*(1−z)+m, and wherein n>0, wherein 6*(1−z) is the quantity of lattice bound water and m is the quantity of non-coordinated water, and wherein m≥0, wherein 0≤x≤2, and y=1, and wherein x, y, and z are related based on electrical neutrality, x>0, y>0, z>0. In one embodiment, all water is present at least interstitially (no coordinated water−z=1) and may include some or both zeolitic or coordinated water; with the material being able to be minimally hydrated (at least 0.01% water by weight).

Described herein is a new class of battery cell that is based on electrodes that contain transition metal cyanide coordination compound (TMCCC) materials as electrochemically active materials. These TMCCC materials naturally contain water. Some of the water they contain is tightly bound to transition metal atoms within the crystal structure of the material, whereas non-coordinated water is less strongly bound as it resides in interstitial sites, or at the surface of the TMCCC material. Some of the non-coordinated water may reversibly move in and out of the electrode as it is charged and discharged. Water that leaves the TMCCC material may then undergo chemical or electrochemical reactions with other cell components and thereby cause degradation of cell performance. One would therefore expect that continued removal of non-coordinated water from the TMCCC material would continue to enhance electrode and cell performance by eliminating these undesirable reactions. However, we found that dehydration is beneficial only to a certain extent, beyond which it degrades the performance of the material. Embodiments of the present invention set the water content to a preferred level that retains not only all of the coordinated water, but also a substantial content of non-coordinated water.

An alternative to electrochemical cells as described herein, and methods for their assembly and use, predetermine desired levels of water in the components. Water impurities in electrolytes for battery cells can be eliminated by minimizing the water content of electrolyte components, and minimizing the exposure of these components to ambient humidity during the process steps of mixing electrolyte solutions, storage, transport, and filling battery cells with electrolyte.

A disadvantage of this alternative includes use of additional process steps such as vacuum-drying of electrolyte salts, drying electrolyte solvents over desiccants, regenerating the desiccant and avoiding impurities introduced by the contact between solvent and desiccant, are costly and may require additional downstream process modifications, such as handling dried salts and solvents in gloveboxes or dry rooms that are expensive to operate. Further, the purchase of materials that have been processed this way require a premium charge over purchase of materials that offer less rigorous manufacturing, handling, and end-use requirements.

In contrast, use of an embodiment of the present invention may allow for a reduction of production cost through the consolidation of separate dehydration processes for battery electrodes, electrolyte salts and electrolyte solvents into one or two process steps in which only the battery electrodes are dehydrated. This may be of particular advantage in using electrolytes made with organic solvents such as acetonitrile as solvent, because the manufacture of acetonitrile uses water as a process medium to isolate acetonitrile from its mixture with acrylonitrile, and further processing is needed to subsequently remove water from thus obtained acetonitrile. Furthermore, strict environmental humidity control is typically only needed during cell stacking operations and not in the upstream process steps.

Some of the content described herein is generally related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/708,213, the contents of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference thereto in its entirety for all purposes. One embodiment of an electrochemical cell of concern includes a TMCCC anode and a TMCCC cathode, and a liquid electrolyte electrically communicated to the electrodes. This liquid electrolyte is made with one or more organic solvents and at least one alkali metal salt, and may or may not contain additives. Preferred examples of solvents include acetonitrile, propionitrile, and butyronitrile for example. Preferred examples of alkali metal salts include suitable salts containing an alkali metal cation and an anion, wherein the alkali metal cation is sodium, potassium, rubidium or cesium, and anions include, but are not limited to, perchlorate, tetrafluoroborate, hexafluorophosphate, difluoro-oxalatoborate, triflate, bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide, dicyanamide, tricyanomethanide, and mixtures thereof. Preferred examples of sodium salts include sodium salts such as, but not limited to, sodium perchlorate, sodium tetrafluoroborate, sodium hexafluorophosphate, sodium difluoro-oxalatoborate, sodium triflate, sodium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, sodium dicyanamide, and sodium tricyanomethanide, and mixtures thereof. A preferred sodium salt includes sodium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide. Examples of additives include malonitrile, succinonitrile, glutaronitrile, and adiponitrile with a mass ratio between solvent and additive between 99:1 and 70:30.

FIG. 1 illustrates a representative secondary electrochemical cell 100 schematic having one or more TMCCC electrodes disposed in contact with a cosolvent electrolyte as described herein. Cell 100 includes a negative electrode 105, a positive electrode 110 and an electrolyte 115 electrically communicated to the electrodes.

FIG. 2 illustrates a unit cell of the cubic Prussian Blue crystal structure, one example of a TMCCC structure. Transition metal cations are linked in a face-centered cubic framework by cyanide bridging ligands. The large, interstitial A sites can contain water and/or inserted alkali ions. FIG. 3 illustrates a process sequence 300 for cell optimization by use of one or more water absorbing TMCCC electrodes including steps 305-315. In step 305, desired components of an electrochemical cell are obtained, such as through manufacture or purchase. For simplifying the discussions, two components of a cell stack for a secondary electrochemical cell including TMCCC active materials are described in process 305. These components include an electrode and an electrolyte. Further, this example scenario includes a chemical manufacturer synthesizing TMCCC active materials for the electrode and a third-party manufacturer producing an electrolyte to be used with the electrode and other components such as additional electrodes, binders, separators, additives, and the like. The TMCCC active material to be included in this electrode includes an “as synthesized” quantity of water that may be present in various forms, e.g., coordinated, interstitial, and surface. The electrolyte used with such an electrode will include, for this example, a combination of solvents, one of which is water which exceeds a quantity more than a “trace” or “impurity” quantity as discussed herein.

Step 310 includes pre-assembly processing of one or more components of the electrochemical (that is, before the electrodes are communicated to the electrolyte and other assembly of the final electrochemical cell are produced). In this example, the electrode is pre-processed to remove some of the as-synthesized water. In some cases, the water concentration of the electrode may be set or determined to a desired/acceptable level during synthesis so that a separate distinct step of adjusting the water concentration is not required.

Step 315 assembles the electrochemical cell from the components, including those that have been pre-processed. Some or all of the components of the cell have different water concentrations post-assembly from their pre-assembly water concentrations. For this example, water from the electrolyte is transferred to the water-reduced TMCCC electrode. This transfer results in the water concentration of the electrolyte decreasing and the water concentration in the electrode increasing during step 315.

FIG. 4-FIG. 6 illustrate a result of the process 300 in the context of one electrode and a simple electrolyte and that other implementations are possible as described herein. FIG. 4 illustrates a concept view of select components of an electrochemical cell 400 in an “as synthesized” state for water concentrations for an electrode and an electrolyte. These components include a TMCCC electrode 405 and a quantity of electrolyte 410. The small circles represent water that is present in the components.

FIG. 5 illustrates the concept view of FIG. 4 with a pre-assembly system 500 including a pre-assembly processing of electrode 405 of FIG. 4 to adjust it so that it is a water-adjusted (reduced) electrode 505 wherein the water concentration of electrode 405 is reduced from its as synthesized state. The fewer number of visualized small circles in electrode 505 of FIG. 5 represent this decreased water concentration for electrode 505 as compared to electrode 405 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 illustrates the concept view of FIG. 5 with a post-assembly system 600 including a post-assembly change in water concentrations of a post-assembly electrode 605 and a post-assembly electrolyte 610. As illustrated by the change in the number of small circles in electrode 605, a water concentration of electrode 605 is greater than pre-assembly electrode 505 (and may be more, less, or the same as the water concentration of as-synthesized electrode 405). Similarly, a water concentration of post-assembly electrolyte 610 is less than the water concentration of electrolyte 410 which in this example was obtained from a third party. These changes of water concentrations in system 600 include a transfer of water from electrolyte 410 to electrode 505 to produce the concentrations represented by FIG. 6.

TMCCC anodes and TMCCC cathodes used in a secondary electrochemical cell may be made in a precipitation reaction by mixing precursor solutions in water of transition metal salts, alkali metal salts, and either alkali cyanide or hexacyanometallate salts; examples of said precipitation reaction can be found in US 2020/0071175 A1, expressly incorporated by reference thereto in its entirety.

The as-synthesized materials typically contain substantial amounts of water that exists in three different forms: (i) water molecules physisorbed to the surface of TMCCC particles, (ii) water molecules in interstitial spaces of a regular TMCCC crystal lattice, and (iii) water molecules coordinated to transition metal sites with an incomplete coordination environment due to an adjacent hexacyanometallate vacancy. For each hexacyanometallate vacancy present in the TMCCC lattice, the six neighboring transition metal sites each lack one of six cyanide ligands; each of these transition metal sites then coordinates to one water molecule, thus maintaining a sixfold coordination environment. In the following, these three forms of water in (i)-(iii) may be referred to as (i) surface water, (ii) interstitial water, and (iii) coordinated water.

Typical non-coordinated water contents of TMCCC materials in their as-synthesized form can range from about zero to about 45% by anhydrous weight. The water content of synthesized TMCCC electrodes in an example electrochemical cell may be reduced by vacuum drying; however, the vacuum drying process is intentionally carried out in such a way that a still substantial amount of non-coordinated water is retained in the electrode materials, which typically is within a range from 1% to 12%.

It is important to note there are several differences between compositions of matter disclosed in incorporated references US 2019/0190006 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 9,099,718 B2, and the electrode compositions of matter described herein. In references US 2019/0190006 A1 and [2], cathode electrodes are dehydrated to the extent that all of their initial water content is removed with the exception of coordinated water, for example. By contrast, the residual water content in the TMCCC electrodes described herein is not limited to coordinated water, but a substantial amount of interstitial water is also retained. Typical partially dehydrated anodes in the battery cell described herein contain only between 0.7% to 5% residual water content as coordinated water, whereas the remaining portion, typically the majority, is in the form of interstitial water. Likewise, typical partially dehydrated cathodes described herein contain only between 4% and 6% (wt.) residual water content in the form of coordinated water, and an additional 0.5% to 5% of interstitial water is still present. The true amount of interstitial water can be expected to be even larger than the aforementioned values when the total water content is underreported by a Karl Fischer titration, whose accuracy relies on all of the water content being released upon heating. Heat-induced reactions that consume water, such as formation of metal oxides and hydrogen gas, are not uncommon in measurements of water content in solid materials, and lead to artificially lower readings in a Karl Fischer titration. Furthermore, reference [2] describes a TMCCC cathode material A_(x)Mn[Fe(CN)₆]_(y).zH₂O in which the removal of interstitial water has caused the material to form a rhombohedral crystal structure, with Mn^(2+/3+) and Fe^(2+/3+) having the same reduction/oxidation potential. By contrast, our invention includes TMCCC materials having the same crystal structure in their as-synthesized and in their partially dehydrated forms, and it also includes TMCCC cathode materials having a cubic crystal structure and having three different oxidation-reduction potentials for nitrogen-coordinated Fe^(2+/3+), carbon-coordinated Fe^(2+/3+), and nitrogen-coordinated Mn^(2+/3+). As an example, FIG. 7 shows a charge-discharge potential profile of a sodium iron manganese hexacyanoferrate electrode having a cubic crystal structure, which was dehydrated from an as-synthesized water content of 17% to a residual water content of 7.3%. Three distinct oxidation/reduction potentials are found at 2.95 V, 3.37 V and 3.6 V, respectively. FIG. 8 shows the differential capacity plot that is derived from the potential profile in FIG. 7. In comparing the composition of matter with the specific capacity at each of the three oxidation/reduction potentials, we found that the capacity measurements are in perfect agreement with an assignment the three redox potentials as nitrogen-coordinated Fe^(2+/3+) (2.95 V), carbon-coordinated Fe^(2+/3+) (3.37 V) and nitrogen-coordinated Mn^(2+/3+) (3.6 V). An advantage of this composition of matter over a fully anhydrous sodium iron manganese hexacyanoferrate electrode having the same composition of matter except for its water content is that the presence of interstitial water not only prevents the formation of the rhombohedral structure, but it also maintains the cubic crystal structure of the electrode material throughout its entire range of sodium intercalation/deintercalation. One skilled in the art will recognize the advantages of an electrode material exhibiting solid-solution intercalation mechanism instead of a phase-change mechanism, where the former mechanism typically results in higher rate capability and longer cycle life. Furthermore, the presence of multiple reactions is desirable because it allows for differential coulometry techniques that enable more precise state of charge and state of health monitoring.

These partially dehydrated TMCCC electrodes may act as strong desiccants with substantial water absorption capacity when in contact with organic-solvent-based electrolytes that contain water as an impurity. Other materials systems that are known to intercalate water, such as zeolitic metal oxides, reach an equilibrium between interstitial water and ambient water in an electrolyte. That equilibrium can be described with a Langmuir isotherm or, if a distribution of absorption energies into non-equivalent sites is present, a convolution of several different Langmuir isotherms, similar to what has been reported for the water absorption of zeolite materials (R. Lin, A. Ladshaw, Y. Nan, J. Liu, S. Yiacoumi, C. Tsouris, D. W. DePaoli, and L. L. Tavlarides, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2015, 54, 42, 10442-10448).

Generally, the distribution of water between its states of being dissolved in the electrolyte and being absorbed in the anode and/or cathode active material can be described with a mass-balance equation:

m _(H2O) ^(cell) =x ₀ m _(E) +y ₀ m _(C) +z ₀ m _(A) =x ₁ m _(E) +y ₁ m _(C) +z ₁ m _(A)   (I)

wherein m_(H2)) ^(cell) is the total water content of all cell components, m_(E), m_(C) and m_(A) are the masses of electrolyte, cathode active material and anode active material, respectively, x_(i), y_(i) and z_(i) are the mass fractions of water in the electrolyte, the cathode active material and the anode active material, respectively, and the indices 0 and 1 refer to the initial and final distribution of water, such that index 0 describes a distribution in which an electrolyte with a higher water content x₀ is filled into a cell containing a stack of cathode and anode electrodes, wherein the cathode electrodes have been partially dehydrated to an initial residual water content y₀ and the anode electrodes have been partially dehydrated to an initial residual water content z₀. Upon equilibration between the cell components, water is redistributed, resulting in the distributions of x₁, y₁ and z₁. This equilibrium is spontaneously reached under a standard cell filling procedure in which electrolyte is added to the electrode stack, after which the cell pouch is heat-sealed and stored for a duration of hours.

Upon said redistribution of water from the cell electrolyte to the electrode active materials, the electrolyte water content is diminished by

$\begin{matrix} {{\Delta x} = {{x_{1} - x_{0}} = {- \frac{{\Delta ym_{C}} + {\Delta zm_{A}}}{m_{E}}}}} & ({II}) \end{matrix}$

In a typical cell design, the electrolyte volume is optimized in such a way that the porous structure of the cell stack is wetted, and pore volume and electrolyte volume are optimized to achieve high power, high energy density and long cycle life. Generally, the masses of active materials and electrolyte can be expected to be of the same or very similar order of magnitude. Since TMCCC electrodes can contain several percent by weight of interstitial water at equilibrium with electrolyte containing only trace impurities of water, very large values of Ax can be achieved.

A preferred multi-layer pouch cell design with 4.5 Ah capacity contains approximately 62 g (by anhydrous mass) TMCCC anode active material, between 61 g and 70 g (by anhydrous mass) TMCCC cathode active material, and approximately 59 g liquid electrolyte. The electrolyte in said preferred cell design may contain up to 1000 ppm water by weight as an impurity (x₀); such water impurity may be introduced with one or more of the electrolyte components (electrolyte salt, solvents, additives) and/or with the process conditions of mixing the electrolyte, during which electrolyte salts, solvents, additives and/or their mixture may be exposed to a humid atmosphere. In said cell design with a cathode active material to electrolyte weight ratio between 1.05 and 1.2, the water content of electrolyte initially containing up to 1000 ppm water is diminished to 20 ppm or less upon contact with the cathode (x₁), with 20 ppm being the detection limit for water using Karl Fischer titration, whereas the water content of the cathode active material increases by no more than 800 ppm (Δy). Since the preferred total residual water content of an active material (y₁ or z₁) is between 6% and 9%, and the addition of less than 0.1% has no measurable effect on cell performance or cycle life, such a wide range of water impurities in the electrolyte as from 0 ppm up to 1000 ppm can be tolerated without needing to adjust the process conditions for dehydration of anode or cathode electrodes. This principle may be further extended to include an initial electrolyte water concentration x₀ of greater than 1000 ppm, and in some embodiments, of approximately 50,000 ppm, while still achieving a preferred final water distribution x₁, y₁, z₁.

The said function of TMCCC electrode materials as a desiccant is not limited to one particular composition of matter of a TMCCC material, but it can be achieved with any TMCCC cathode or anode material that has a substantial affinity towards absorption of interstitial water. Preferred examples of such interstitially hydrated TMCCC materials include hexacyanoferrates including but not limited to sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrates, sodium iron hexacyanoferrates, sodium manganese hexacyanoferrates, sodium copper hexacyanoferrates, sodium nickel hexacyanoferrates, potassium nickel hexacyanoferrates, hexacyanomanganates including but not limited to sodium manganese hexacyanomanganates and sodium zinc hexacyanomanganates, and hexacyanochromates including but not limited to sodium manganese hexacyanochromate. Particularly preferred cathode TMCCC materials are sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrates with a composition Na_(2−s−p−(4−s)q)Mn^(II) _(1−p)Fe^(III) _(p)[Fe^(II+s)(CN)₆]_(1−q)(H₂O)_(6q+r), wherein 0≤p≤1, 0≤q≤0.5, r≥0, and 0≤s≤1. Particularly preferred anode TMCCC materials are sodium manganese hexacyanomanganates with a composition Na_(2−4q)Mn[Mn(CN)₆]_(1−q)(H₂O)_(6q+r), wherein 0≤q≤0.5 and r≥0.

In another preferred cell design, an electrolyte with even higher water content on the order of several percent can be used, when the dehydration process for the electrodes is adjusted accordingly to avoid higher than preferred total water content of the cell. In this case, one or both of the anode and cathode electrodes is initially dehydrated to a residual water content that is intentionally lower than the water content that is targeted for optimal cell performance. Said optimum water concentrations in the electrode active materials are then gained back upon exposure of the “over-dried” electrode stack to the electrolyte.

In one preferred cell design, a TMCCC cathode is used and the optimum residual water content in said TMCCC cathode is 6.4%, of which 4.8% water is present as coordinated water and 1.6% is present as interstitial water, the anode in this cell design is dehydrated to an optimum residual water content of 7.5%, the TMCCC cathode is over-dried to 5.3% residual water content and electrolyte with an initial water content of 12,000 ppm is used.

In another preferred cell design, the TMCCC cathode is used and dehydrated to its optimum residual water content of 6.4%, and a TMCCC anode, containing 2.2% coordinated water and, for optimum cell performance and cycle life, 5.4% interstitial water, is dehydrated to 3.1% residual water content, and the resulting cell is filled with electrolyte containing 42,000 ppm water.

Many other variations of this type of cell design can be practiced, in which electrolytes with substantial initial water content, ranging up to 50,000 ppm, can be effectively desiccated when appropriate TMCCC electrode materials with low initial water content and large water absorption capacity are employed.

In addition, variations of this type of cell design could incorporate one or electrodes each of which comprising a combination of one or more TMCCC materials and another electrochemically active electrode material. In such a variation, said one or more TMCCC materials could be introduced as a component to the electrode in a concentration of 1% to 10% or more, and said electrodes may contain another electrochemically active electrode material including but not limited to carbons such as graphite or hard carbon, metallic and intermetallics such as sulfur and silicon, or ceramics such as transition metal oxides or phosphates, including but not limited to lithium transition metal oxides such as lithium cobalt oxide, lithium manganese oxide, or lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide, or lithium transition metal phosphates such as lithium iron phosphate, and including but not limited to sodium transition metal oxides or phosphates, including but not limited to sodium titanium phosphate and oxides containing sodium, nickel, and optionally one or more other transition metals. In such as variation, the TMCCC component of said electrode would absorb water from the electrolyte as described herein, enhancing the performance of the cell or said another electrochemically active electrode material.

EXAMPLE 1 Karl Fischer Titration of Electrolytes Before and After Contact with TMCCC Cathode

Three electrolytes with a concentration of 0.88 M NaTFSI in acetonitrile and with a systematic variation of water content were made, referred to hereafter as electrolytes a, b and c. Electrolyte a was taken from a stock solution made with high-purity acetonitrile and NaTFSI salt, whereas electrolytes b and c were made by intentionally adding small amounts of water to aliquots taken from electrolyte a, in order to obtain target water concentrations of 500 ppm and 1000 ppm in electrolytes b and c, respectively.

Each of the electrolytes a, b and c was exposed to a partially dehydrated TMCCC cathode. For this purpose, cathode electrodes made with hydrated sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate as the active material, with an active material mass loading of approximately 15.3 mg/cm² by anhydrous active material weight, an area of approximately 385 cm², calendared to a porosity of approximately 35%, were vacuum-dried to a residual water content of 7.2%±0.1% by active material weight.

For each electrolyte exposure test, one of the said cathode electrodes was placed inside a laminated aluminum pouch, and a volume of electrolyte twice as large as the pore volume of the electrode was added. The pouches were then heat-sealed and stored overnight, after which they were cut open and the excess electrolyte volume collected for Karl Fischer titration.

Table 1 illustrates the measured water content in electrolytes a, b and c before and after exposure to partially dehydrated cathode electrodes. Illustrated is a desiccant effect of sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate cathodes in contact with 0.88 M NaTFSI/acetonitrile electrolytes with different initial water concentrations. Electrolyte H₂O concentrations before and after exposure are measured by Karl Fischer titration; the H₂O absorption of the cathode samples is calculated from the H₂O concentration change in the electrolyte. In each of the three electrolyte samples, regardless of their initial water content, the water content after exposure was diminished to the detection limit of the Karl Fischer titration.

TABLE 1 Desiccant effect Calculated H₂O before H₂O after cathode H₂O exposure to exposure to absorption (% wt. Electrolyte cathode (ppm) cathode (ppm) of active) a 59 16 0.005 b 491 23 0.05 c 1009 22 0.09

EXAMPLE 2 Karl Fischer Titration of Electrolytes Before and After Contact with TMCCC Anode

Three electrolytes with a concentration of 0.88 M NaTFSI in acetonitrile and with a systematic variation of water content were made, referred to hereafter as electrolytes d, e and f. The electrolytes were made using the same procedure as for electrolyte a in Example 1, followed by additions of small amounts of water in order to reach target water concentrations of 100 ppm, 1000 ppm and 10000 ppm, respectively. Each of the electrolytes d, e and f was exposed to a partially dehydrated TMCCC anode. In addition to electrolyte exposure to partially dehydrated anodes directly obtained from the vacuum-drying process, the effect of anode SOC was also tested.

Anode electrodes made with hydrated sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate as the active material, with an active material mass loading of approximately 14.8 mg/cm², an area of approximately 385 cm², calendared to a porosity of approximately 28%, were vacuum-dried to a residual water content of 7.5%.

Three anodes with an SOC of 0% were directly obtained from the vacuum-drying process and exposed to electrolytes d, e, and f using the same procedure as in Example 1. Additional anodes from the same drying batch were built into multilayer pouch cells using sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate cathodes with 6.8% cathode residual water content. These cells underwent 1C-1C charge-discharge cycles and were stopped at appropriate voltages to obtain anode SOCs of 50%, 80% and 100%, respectively. The thus prepared anodes were harvested from their cells and subjected to the same soaking protocol as the 0% SOC anodes.

Table 2 illustrates an electrolyte water content in electrolytes d, e and f before and after exposure to partially dehydrated anodes at four different anode states of charge. At the given initial residual water content of 7.5% in the anode, the corresponding equilibrium water concentration in the electrolyte is 128 ppm. While this indicates a lower affinity of the anode material towards water absorption, we still observe substantial removal of water from electrolytes with higher initial concentrations of 1017 and 9983 ppm. It is noteworthy that the anode in this example has a much higher initial concentration of interstitial water (6.5%) prior to electrolyte exposure than the cathode in Example 1 (2.4%), and still exhibits substantial absorption capacity. An additional benefit can be seen in Table 2, which illustrates that the state of charge of this electrode material does not significantly affect its water absorption capacity, allowing the cell to be assembled at any state of charge while still retaining the ability to capture water from an electrolyte. Described is a desiccant effect of sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate anodes at different SOCs in contact with 0.88 M NaTFSI/acetonitrile electrolytes with initial water concentrations. Electrolyte H₂O concentrations before and after exposure are measured by Karl Fischer titration; the H₂O absorption of the anode samples is calculated from the H₂O concentration change in the electrolyte.

TABLE 2 Desiccant effect Calculated Anode H₂O before H₂O after anode H₂O SOC exposure to exposure to absorption (% wt. Electrolyte (%) anode (ppm) anode (ppm) of active) d 0 128 98 0.003 d 50 128 128 0.000 d 80 128 130 0.000 d 100 128 128 0.000 e 0 1017 134 0.09 e 50 1017 172 0.07 e 80 1017 213 0.07 e 100 1017 236 0.07 f 0 9983 1730 0.72 f 50 9983 1429 0.75 f 80 9983 1919 0.70 f 100 9983 1876 0.71

EXAMPLE 3 Cell Design with Electrolytes Containing Different Water Impurity Levels

Cathode electrodes made with hydrated sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate were partially dehydrated to a residual water content of 7.1%±0.1% using the same vacuum drying process as in example 1. Anode electrodes made with hydrated sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate as the active material, with an active material mass loading of approximately 14.8 mg/cm² and an electrode porosity of approximately 28%, were vacuum-dried for 70 minutes at 80° C. to a residual water content of 7.8%±0.1%. Anode and cathode electrodes were stacked and formed into multi-layer pouch cells. Three different groups A, B and C of cells were made with different electrolytes. The electrolytes used in cell groups A, B and C had the same compositions as the electrolytes a, b and c in example 1, respectively. All three groups of cells were subjected to an accelerated cycle age test at 45° C., during which they were continuously floated at a maximum voltage of 1.81 V and fully discharged at a 2.2C rate once daily.

FIG. 9 illustrates the initial 1C-1C voltage profiles of cells from groups A, B and C.

FIG. 10 illustrates the cell energy versus time for cells from groups A, B, and C, measured during the accelerated cycle age test at 45° C.

FIG. 11 illustrates the cell capacity versus time for cells from groups A, B, and C, measured during the accelerated cycle age test at 45° C.

No differences were observed between the initial 1C-1C voltage profiles of cells with varied electrolyte water content, and during 3 months of accelerated cycle-aging the performance of the three different groups was indistinguishable in terms of energy fade and capacity fade. These observations are consistent with the desiccant property of the cathode material demonstrated in Example 1. The added water in the 491 ppm and 1009 ppm groups is entirely absorbed by the cathode, and the differences in resulting cathode water introduced with the electrolyte are less than 0.09% between the groups; these differences are within typical process variations of electrode vacuum drying and their effect on cell performance or cell life are negligible.

Disclosed herein is a simpler process for fabricating a cell containing two TMCCC electrodes would involve processing the TMCCC materials into electrodes, assembling those electrodes into a cell stack (a stack of anode electrodes, separators, and cathode electrodes), and then performing a single drying step on that cell stack, thereby drying both of the two electrodes at the same time. This is one embodiment of the present invention.

The performance of electrochemical cells containing TMCCC electrodes is dependent on the amount of water those electrodes contain. In opposition to the teachings of Reference [2] and Reference [3], some embodiments of the present invention illustrate that it is not necessarily the case that eliminating all water from a set of TMCCC electrodes will result in optimal cell performance. For example, the impedance of a TMCCC electrode increases as its RM is decreased by a more aggressive drying process. A higher electrode impedance degrades a cell's energy efficiency and power capability. Depending on the application for which a battery is used, different performance metrics matter more than other performance metrics. In the case of an application in which having a high energy efficiency is important, a nonzero RM in the TMCCC electrodes is optimal. On the other hand, as taught by Reference [2], in an application for which operating a battery cell in a narrow voltage range is important, drying the TMCCC electrodes to the point that they are “anhydrated” (RM=0) is desirable. The teachings of Reference [2] may, in a narrow range for specific applications and device requirements, offer better performance than RM maintained with the preferred non-zero range.

Embodiments of the present invention may include a process for partial or complete removal of non-coordinated water from the TMCCC structure, but not the removal of lattice-bound water. This dehydrating process may be performed on the individual TMCCC materials, or electrodes containing them, or it may be performed on a fully assembled cell stack. In some instances, the TMCCC material may have insufficient water for the lattice structure, therefore an aspect of the present invention allows for addition of water to meet the lattice needs without adding non-coordinated water.

A first advantage of some embodiments of the present invention is that by removing a controlled amount of non-coordinated water while leaving lattice-bound water in the material, the performance of the cell may be fully optimized for multiple performance metrics including energy efficiency, cycle life, and other metrics.

A second advantage of some embodiments of the present invention is related to the mechanical stability of the electrodes during the drying process. Drying a coated electrode to the point that is fully anhydrous requires prolonged exposure to a high temperature (typically>130° C.) and vacuum. Unfortunately, at high temperature the polymer binder contained in the porous electrode softens. This allows any stresses that have built up in the electrode during processing to be released, thereby resulting in the electrode deforming by curling up and losing its planarity. Subsequent processing steps such as electrode stacking require punched electrodes to be planar. A deformed or curled electrode is more difficult to process and may result in defects and/or yield losses. However, when the target RM of a TMCCC electrode is significantly above zero (about 4% or more) then less aggressive drying conditions are required (<100° C.) and less deformation of the electrode occurs during drying to the target RM. Furthermore, mechanical fixtures may be used to compress one or more electrodes or cell stacks so that a uniform temperature, rate of drying, and final RM is achieved. These mechanical fixtures may also provide mechanical stability to the electrodes or cell stacks. These fixtures therefore result in a consistent, homogeneous RM for large batches of tens or even hundreds of electrodes or cell stacks, which results in a higher quality product. Furthermore, these fixtures decrease or even eliminate the mechanical deformation that occurs during a drying process in which the electrodes or cell stacks are not mechanically constrained.

A third advantage of some embodiments of the present invention is that by drying to only an intermediate amount of RM that includes retaining all lattice-bound water, the drying step may be performed on a fully assembled cell stack. By performing drying on the full cell stack, fewer subsequent processing steps must be performed under a low RH atmosphere, thereby decreasing the cost and complexity of the electrode fabrication and cell assembly processes. Furthermore, in the case that the cell stack includes a separator that is Z-folded between the punched electrodes and optionally wrapped around the exterior of the cell stack, the mechanical rigidity provided by the separator limits the deformation and curling of the electrodes during drying. This decreases the risk of defects associated with electrode deformation and raises yield.

Embodiments of the present invention may include a method for drying TMCCC electrodes to an optimal RM at which one or more cell performance metrics reaches at optimal value. TMCCC materials have the general chemical formula A_(x)P_(y)[R(CN)_(6−p)(NC)_(p)]_(z)(H₂O)_(n) where A is one or more mobile cation such as Li+, Na+, or K+, each of P and R is one or more transition metal cations in a 1⁺, 2⁺, 3⁺, or 4⁺ state, including but not limited to Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Zn, and where H₂O denotes a water molecule. The general chemical formula is typically normalized to y=1, and in that case typical compositions include 0≤x≤2, 0.5≤z≤1, 0≤p≤3, and 0≤n≤4. The water content of a TMCCC material may also be denoted on a percentage basis of the total mass of the material, in which case it is referred to as “residual moisture” (RM). For example, a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate (MnFeHCF) TMCCC material having a formula Na_(1.4)Mn^(II) _(0.8)Fe^(III) _(0.2)[Fe(CN)₆]_(0.9)(H₂O)_(2.6) has n=2.6 and RM=14.5%. The RM of a TMCCC may range from about zero to about 25% or more.

TMCCC materials have an open framework crystal structure in which hexacyanometallate groups of the formula R(CN)_(6−p)(NC)_(p) are octahedrally coordinated with the transition metal cations of species P. This structure may be configured in a cubic phase, or less commonly, a rhombohedral or monoclinic phase. For non-cubic phases, the R-CN-P bonds are shifted off-axis from one another, whereas in a cubic phase, the R-CN-P bonds for a straight line along the same axis.

The TMCCC structure contains large interstitial sites in which mobile cations A+ and water may reside. As the A+ cations are not strongly bound to the lattice, they may readily exit and reenter the structure during electrochemical cycling of the TMCCC material. Similarly, non-coordinated water may reversibly exit and reenter the TMCCC material. Removal of non-coordinated water may be performed by exposing a TMCCC material to a low ambient relative humidity (RH), by heating the material, by applying a vacuum to the material, by electrochemically or chemically inserting additional A+ cations into the material (and therefore occupying interstitial space that would otherwise be occupied by water molecules), or a combination of these or other processes. Regardless of the specific method of drying, water will leave the TMCCC material until an equilibrium RM is reached. Conversely, exposure of a “dry” TMCCC material that has a low RM to moisture, either by contacting liquid water, or by exposure to an atmosphere having a high RH will result in the material absorbing water until a new equilibrium is reached at a higher RM. For many TMCCC materials, removal of non-coordinated water may be easily performed by drying the material in air or under vacuum at temperatures of 60-130° C.

TMCCC materials also contain water that is bound to the framework structure. The most common configuration of bound water is water coordinated to a P site cation adjacent to a hexacyanometallate vacancy (for the case of z<1). The presence of that vacancy includes an absence of CN groups, and therefore a vacancy in the coordination shell of each of the adjacent P site cations. Syntheses of TMCCC materials are typically performed in water, allowing ambient water molecules to bind to P cations to fill out vacancies in their coordination shells resulting from hexacyanometallate vacancies.

Consider an example of lattice-bound water, in which a center of a TMCCC structure is missing a R(CN)₆ group, and the adjacent six P site cations are each coordinated to one water molecule. In such a TMCCC material, non-coordinated water, which may or may not coordinate to an interstitial sodium ion, as well as lattice-bound water, in which the P site cations adjacent to a R(CN)6 vacancy each have one water molecule bonded to them. Should the lattice-bound water be removed via an aggressive drying process, those P site cations would be unstable because their coordination shells are no longer full. This results in a less stable structure and degradation of the performance of the TMCCC electrode.

TMCCC materials are able to be processed into composite battery electrodes in a number of ways. These composite battery electrodes may also include one or more conductive additives such as carbons, and one or more polymer binders. This general process involves the mixing of the TMCCC with the carbons and binders in one or more organic solvents to form a viscous slurry or ink that may be coated onto a substrate. That mixing may be performed at low or high shear rates to optimize the dispersion of the TMCCC, carbon, and binder in the solvents. After mixing, the resulting slurry may be coated onto a substrate such as a mesh or foil. Those substrates may be metal such as aluminum, copper, or stainless steel, or surface-modified metal such as carbon-coated aluminum. Coating may be performed using a blade-over-roll coater, a slot-die coater, an extrusion coater, or another type of coater. After coating, the coated substrate is dried by one or more of the following: convective heating, infrared heating, convective airflow, or another drying process. The result of the drying process is a composite electrode on the substrate. The drying step performed after coating to form the composite electrode is for the primary purpose of evaporating the solvents present in the slurry. This drying step may optionally decrease the RM of a TMCCC material present in the coated electrode.

That composite electrode may then be densified using a roll press such as a calender press. Variations of this electrode preparation process may be used to achieve enhanced electrode performance. These variations may include selection of various conductive carbons or combinations of conductive carbons including but not limited to carbon black, graphite, or hard carbon, or selection of various binders or combinations of binders including but not limited to vinylfluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer, polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF), polyacrylonitrile, polymethylmethacrylate, polytetrafluoroethylene, or styrene butadiene rubber-based polymer. Variations of this electrode preparation process may also include the temperature, duration, and pressure during electrode drying.

A drying process may be performed on a TMCCC material including a first RM. The drying process may include heating, exposure to vacuum, or both. A drying temperature of less than 130° C., and preferably less than 100° C., is desired to selectively remove non-coordinated water but not lattice-bound water. The drying process may also be performed using a combination of heating and exposure to vacuum, where a vacuum is defined as an ambient pressure less than 1 bar, and preferably less than 0.1 bar. The drying process results in a decrease in the RM of the electrodes to a value less than its first RM, typically to a second RM of about 1% to about 10%. The rate at which drying proceeds from the first RM to the second RM depends on both the temperature and vacuum pressure. It may be advantageous to perform drying at a relatively slow rate at a temperature of less than 100° C. so that the drying process may be stopped at a well-controlled second RM. In this scenario, drying may be performed for a duration of ten minutes to one hour, or one hour to ten hours, or ten to twenty hours. Drying of a TMCCC material for a duration of approximately one hour or more, and preferably ten hours or more, results in a homogeneous drying process: all of the particles of TMCCC material in the sample reach the same RM, and the water within those particles may be distributed homogeneously. Prolonged exposure of a TMCCC material to temperatures of 100° C. or more for a duration of twenty hours or more may result in chemical instability and undesired chemical reactions. Therefore, drying to a desired second RM should be performed at a rate slow enough to enable homogeneous drying to a precise second RM, but not at a rate so slow that undesirable chemical reactions may occur. These considerations in drying rate also apply to the vacuum pressure applied during drying. The stronger the vacuum, the faster drying will occur at any specific temperature. Therefore, the vacuum pressure should be selected in combination with a drying temperature to achieve the desired rate and homogeneity of drying and the desired RM. These considerations apply not only for processes in which a drying process is performed on a TMCCC material, but also for processes performed on one or more electrodes containing one or more TMCCC materials, or on a cell stack containing one or more such electrodes.

A drying process may be performed on electrodes including one or more TMCCC materials, each of which includes a one or more first RM, before they are assembled into a cell stack. The drying process may include heating, exposure to vacuum, or both. For an electrode containing a TMCCC material, temperatures of less than 130° C., and preferably less than 100° C., are desired to allow removal of non-coordinated water but not lattice-bound water. This results in a decrease in the RM of the electrodes to a value less than its initial RM, typically to a second RM of about 1% to about 10%. Composite electrodes containing polymer binders are typically calendered to decrease their porosity to a desired value. Doing so enables batch-to-batch control of electrode porosity, density, and thickness so that a reliable, high quality cell design can be manufactured. However, calendering involves mechanical deformation of the electrode that may induce stresses internal to the composite layers. When a polymer is heated, its Young's modulus and yield strength decrease. During the heating associated with an electrode drying process, this weakening of the polymer binder may allow stresses to be released through deformation of the electrode. One type of deformation of the electrode is curling, in which the edges of a formerly planar porous electrode curl towards one another. Curling may be irregular, making the assembly of a cell stack from curled electrodes challenging and prone to defects. To decrease electrode curling, a stack of one or more punched electrodes may be placed between two compression plates. These plates restrict deformation of the electrodes during the drying process. By preventing curling and by maintaining a planar configuration of each of the electrodes, each of the electrodes is exposed to the same drying conditions (temperature and local vacuum pressure) so a homogenous RM may be achieved for all of the electrodes present during the drying process. The electrodes may further by separated from one another by a thin spacer made of a sheet of metal, plastic, or another material that flat and chemically inert under the drying conditions (temperature and vacuum pressure). These dried electrodes may then be assembled into cells by using standard processing steps such as stacking of one or more anode electrodes, separators, and cathode electrodes to form a cell stack. To ensure that the electrodes do not reabsorb water to attain a third RM greater than the second RM achieved at the end of the drying process, each following processing step should be performed under a low, controlled RH until the cell stack is sealed in an impermeable cell package.

A cell stack may be assembled by placing one or more layers of anode electrodes, separators, and cathode electrodes into a multilayer stack. These one or more layers may be ordered such that a separator is placed between each of the electrode layers, and furthermore, such that every other electrode layer is either an anode or a cathode. The result of this stacking process may be an ordering of layers such as . . . anode, separator, cathode, separator, . . . ” such that a separator placed in between two electrodes is adjacent to both one anode electrode and one cathode electrode. The first and last layers in the stack may be electrodes of the same or opposite types, or they may be separators, or they may be an electrode and a separator. Discrete electrode and separators may be placed next to one another to form a stack of multiple layers (see figure). Alternatively, a single long separator may be folded or woven back-and-forth between alternating anode and cathode electrodes (see figure).

After a cell stack is assembled, a first tab will be attached to the one or more anode layers, and a second tab will be attached to the one or more cathode electrodes. These tabs are typically designed to protrude outside of the cell's packaging so that an electronic contact to the cell may be made. The tab attachment processes may be performed by ultrasonic welding, electronic spot welding, laser welding, chemical bonding with an electronically conductive adhesive, or by one or more other processes that result in intimate contact and electronic conductivity between the tab and one or more electrodes. After attaching the tabs, the cell stack may be placed in a package that is impermeable to air, water, or other chemical contaminates. One or more liquid electrolytes may be placed in a package with the cell stack. After all internal cell components are placed within the packaging, the packaging is sealed. The packaging may include a multilayer polymer/metal laminate, a metal can or box, or a metal can or box that is lined with an electronically insulating layer, or another type of packaging material that is impermeable to water and air. The packaging may be sealed by performing a heat-sealing process, a laser welding process, or one or more other sealing processes. The sealing process may be performed such that the only components of the cell extending from the inside of the packaging to the outside of the packaging are the two tabs.

Critically, to maintain a desired second RM for a quantity of one or more electrodes, each of the subsequent processing steps until the sealing of the cell packaging must be performed under a controlled, low RH. In the case that the one or more electrodes, or one or more cell stacks is exposed to an uncontrolled or high RH, they may reabsorb water, thereby resulting in a third RM greater than the desired second RM. The process requirement of including a controlled, low RH may add to the cost and complexity of a manufacturing process, or it may decrease the throughput or yield of that process.

A drying process may also be performed on cell stacks containing one or more anode electrodes, separators, and cathode electrodes. This cell stack drying process may be performed on cell stacks containing electrodes that were previously dried to reach a desired second RM as described above, or on cell stacks containing electrodes that were not previously dried. The electrodes present in a cell stack may have been calendered before the stack was assembled and may include a deformation and internal stress. Therefore, performing a drying process on a cell stack in the absence of mechanical constraints may result in curling of the electrodes within the cell stack. This curling of the electrodes within the cell stack may be greater than, approximately equal to, or less than the curling that occurs during drying of one or more unconstrained electrodes (as described above). To minimize or eliminate curling of the electrodes within a cell stack during drying to a desired second RM, one or more cell stacks may be mechanically constrained between two compression plates. Spacers may optionally be placed between the cell stacks. By mechanically constraining the cell stacks, curling of the electrodes may be eliminated and a planar configuration to the electrodes is maintained. This allows for a consistent drying process in which a homogeneous second RM is achieved for each of the anodes and cathodes in each of the cell stacks.

A change in the RM of a one or more anode electrodes may be denoted as ΔRM(a), where ΔRM(a) is equal to the difference between a first RM, denoted as RM(a1), and a second RM, denoted as RM(a2): ΔRM(a)=RM(a1)−RM(a2). Similarly, a change in the RM of a one or more cathode electrodes may be denoted as ΔRM(c), where ΔRM(c) is equal to the difference between a first RM, denoted as RM(c1), and a second RM, denoted as RM(c2): ΔRM(a)=RM(c1)−RM(c2). As stated above, a first RM such as RM(a1) or RM(c1) depends on the composition of the TMCCC material and the conditions in which it reaches an equilibrium, such as RH and temperature. A second RM such as RM(a2) or RM(c2) depends on the one or more conditions of a drying process, such as the temperature, vacuum pressure, and duration.

When each of RM(a1) and RM(c1) are greater than each of RM(a2) and RM(c2), or in other words, when RM(a1), RM(c1)>RM(a2), RM(c2), then each of ΔRM(a) and ΔRM(c) are greater than zero. In this case, a net quantity of water is removed from both the one or more anodes and the one or more cathodes, resulting in a net decrease in water for the entire cell stack. This cell stack drying process is therefore equivalent to a cell manufacturing process including separate electrode drying processes including a first number of one or more anode electrodes is dried to RM(a2) in a first process, and including a second number of one or more cathode electrodes is dried to RM(c2) in a second process, followed by stacking to form a cell stack under a low, controlled RH. Performing a single drying process on fully assembled cell stacks may therefore enable a single process to be performed and may eliminate the process requirement of low, controlled RH for cell assembly steps performed between electrode drying and the sealing of cell packages.

When a cell stack drying process is performed under conditions such that RM(a1)<RM(a2)<RM(c2)<RM(c1), then a net quantity of water may be removed from the cell stack, and some water may be transferred from the one or more anodes to the one or more cathodes. Similarly, if a cell stack drying process is performed under conditions such that RM(c1)<RM(c2)<RM(a2) <RM(a1), then a net quantity of water may be removed from the cell stack, and some water may be transferred from the one or more cathodes to the one or more anodes. Reaching a desired RM(a2) and RM(c2) through a combination of a transfer of water between the one or more anodes and one or more cathodes requires a smaller total net water loss from the electrodes. In a case in which a smaller total net water loss is required to achieve one or more second RMs, the one or more drying processes may be performed at a lower temperature, at a less intense vacuum pressure, for a shorter duration, or with one or more other decreases in the intensity, cost, or complexity of said drying processes.

When RM(a2) and RM(c2) are reached under the same drying conditions and with the one or more anodes and one or more cathodes in communication with one another, then RM(a2) and RM(c2) are in equilibrium with one another. When RM(a2) and RM(c2) are in equilibrium with one another, then there is no thermodynamic driving force for water to move from one type of electrode to the other. When the cell assembly processing steps subsequent to the cell stack drying process are performed such that RM(a2) and RM(c2) do not change, then they may remain in equilibrium with one another throughout these drying processes, and furthermore, during operation of the cell. When RM(a2) and RM(c2) remain in equilibrium with one another during operation of the cell, then water may not be released from one or more of the electrodes to undergo undesirable chemical or electrochemical reactions. Therefore, performing drying on cell stacks, rather than on individual electrodes, may result in an improvement in the performance of the cell.

EXAMPLES

For each of the examples below, a porous electrode containing a TMCCC material was fabricated by first mixing TMCCC powder, nanoparticulate carbon black powder, and a styrene-butadiene binder in a mass ratio of approximately 85:7.5:7.5 in a solution of xylenes and butyl alcohol to form a viscous slurry. This slurry was coated onto an aluminum foil substrate using a slot die coater to form a coated electrode having a target solids mass loading of approximately 20mg/cm2. This coated electrode was heated at a temperature no greater than 100° C. for 10 minutes to remove the organic solvents, thereby forming a dried electrode having a first porosity of over 50%. The dried electrode was then calendered to a second porosity of less than 30% to form a porous electrode. The porous electrode was then punched into sheets of desired dimensions ranging from about 2 by 2 cm to about 20 by 20 cm for use in battery cells having various form factors, resulting in the formation of punched anode electrodes.

1. Monolayer Electrode Drying

Anodes and cathodes can be dried at the electrode level to achieve optimal RM.

Example 1

Anode electrodes were prepared. The as-prepared anodes contained a first RM of 9.1%, as measured using a Karl Fischer volumetric titrator. Six 15 cm2 anode electrodes were placed flat, in a monolayer fashion, on the center shelf of a vacuum oven that was previously preheated to 70° C. The vacuum oven was evacuated, and the electrodes were dried under dynamic vacuum for 20 minutes, achieving a final pressure of 0.67 torr in the vacuum oven after 20 minutes. The oven was then refilled with nitrogen and the anode electrodes were removed from the oven. The dried anodes contained a second 7.1% RM based on the mass of the electrode composite, as measured using a Karl Fischer volumetric titrator.

Example 2

Cathode electrodes were prepared. The as-prepared cathodes contained a first RM of 18.2%, as measured using a Karl Fischer volumetric titrator. Six 15 cm2 cathode electrodes were placed flat, in a monolayer fashion, on the center shelf of a vacuum oven that was previously preheated to 110° C. The vacuum oven was evacuated, and the electrodes were dried under dynamic vacuum for 60 minutes, achieving a final pressure of 0.37 ton in the vacuum oven after 60 minutes. The oven was then refilled with nitrogen and the cathode electrodes were removed from the oven. The dried cathodes contained a second 6.9% RM, as measured using a Karl Fischer volumetric titrator. The dried anode and cathode electrodes were then stacked into a cell within a moisture-controlled environment. The resulting cell exhibited optimal performance.

The following is a general paragraph about this type of drying as used to prepare the data shown in FIGS. 1-4.

Anodes are typically dried at a temperature within the range of 60° C.-100° C. while cathodes, which naturally contain more water than anodes, are typically dried within the range of 100° C.-120° C. One must be mindful not to dry at such a high temperature that the electrode or active material will thermally degrade. As such, it is important to understand the thermal properties of the electrode components before developing a drying method. For both electrodes, the drying duration is typically in the range of 20 minutes-2 hours. For both electrodes, the final achieved pressure of the vacuum oven during drying is typically in the range of 0.2-1.0 ton. The RM of the undried electrode, the residual slurry solvent content in the undried electrode, and the vapor pressures of the aforementioned volatiles will greatly impact the drying temperature and duration needed to achieve each electrode's optimal RM. These factors may change depending on the synthesis conditions of the powder, the slurry composition and the coating and drying conditions of the slurry. Additionally, the drying batch size, or the total mass of electrodes in the vacuum oven during one drying cycle, will alter the drying temperature and duration needed to achieve optimal RM.

2. Powder Drying

An alternative route to achieving the optimal RM in the final product is to perform the drying step upstream from the electrode—at the powder level.

Example 1

Anode powder was synthesized. The as-synthesized anode powder contained a first RM of 8.7%, as measured by a Karl Fischer volumetric titrator. 20 grams of anode powder was spread in a glass dish and covered by a Kim wipe that was secured to the glass container using a rubber band. The glass container was placed in the center shelf of a vacuum oven that was preheated to 70° C. The anode powder was dried under dynamic vacuum for 16 hours. The dried anode powder contained a second RM of 7.1%, as measured by a Karl Fischer volumetric titrator.

Example 2

Cathode powder was synthesized. The as-synthesized cathode powder contained a first RM of 16.3%, as measured by a Karl Fischer volumetric titrator. 20 grams of cathode powder was spread in a glass dish and covered by a Kim wipe that was secured to the glass container using a rubber band. The glass container was placed in the center shelf of a vacuum oven that was preheated to 100° C. The cathode powder was dried under dynamic vacuum for 16 hours. The dried cathode powder contained a second RM of 7.0%, as measured by a Karl Fischer volumetric titrator.

Comments on post-powder drying processes:

The dried powders were then mixed into slurries with a conductive additive and binder to be coated into electrode sheets. The formulation of the slurry was adjusted to account for different rheology behavior of the dried powders, compared to their typical undried state. The coated electrodes were then dried at low temperature to evaporate the slurry solvent. The resulting electrodes contained the optimal moisture content, and needed no additional vacuum drying. The electrodes were then stacked into cells that exhibited optimal performance. This route of drying requires that all subsequent processing steps after vacuum drying the powder be done in a moisture-controlled environment such that the dried powder remains in the optimal RM condition and does not re-absorb moisture from the processing environment.

3. Stacks of Electrodes Drying Process—General Examples

Example 1: electrode drying. Stacks of electrodes containing between 5-30 pieces are prepared and weighed. Electrodes are dried in a vacuum oven under dynamic vacuum for 90 to 480 minutes at a temperature which is between 80 to 120° C., according to the material, batch size, and desired target remaining moisture.

Example 2: electrode drying. Stacks of electrodes of not more than 30 pieces are loaded in a vacuum oven and preheated plates weighing not less than 2 pounds each are placed on the electrode stacks. Electrodes are dried under dynamic vacuum at a temperature of 80-120° C. for a duration of 90 to 480 minutes, according to the material, batch size and desired remaining moisture of the material.

It may be advantageous to apply pressure or constrain the electrodes in stacks to improve the uniformity of the heat transfer in stacks with multiple electrodes. This can be accomplished through the use of a heavy plate of similar surface area to the electrodes, or via a fixture whereby electrodes are placed between plates which are bolted together to provide a desired amount of pressure.

Electrodes may equivalently be dried in a vacuum oven or in a convection oven under inert atmosphere such as nitrogen.

Example 3: electrode drying. Electrodes including a first RM1 >13.4% are dried in a vacuum oven at 120° C. under dynamic vacuum for a duration of 360 to 600 mins, depending on batch size, to a second RM2of <6.7%. Electrodes are subsequently stacked into cells under a controlled RH of <10%. Measurements taken after cell stacking show these electrodes have reached third RM3 between 6.7% and 7.2%, where RM3>RM2, and RM3 is the desired final material moisture.

Example 4: electrode drying. Electrodes are placed into a convection oven at a temperature of 80-120° C., and the oven is purged with N2 at a rate up to 150 SCFM during drying. Electrodes are dried for 50-90 mins, depending on the material, batch size and desired remaining moisture.

4. Stacks of Electrodes Drying Process—Specific Examples

Example 5: cathode electrode drying. The residual moisture of cathode electrodes including a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate TMCCC material was measured using Karl Fischer to be 18.4% of the mass of the electrode composite. Eight stacks of 14 cathode electrodes, with an area of approximately 385 cm2, were placed horizontally and evenly spaced on two shelves of a vacuum oven. These stacks were covered with aluminum plates of approximately 500 g. Both ovens and plates were preheated to 120° C. Electrodes were dried for 6 hours under active vacuum. The final moisture was measured by Karl Fischer to be 7.0% of the mass of the electrode composite.

Example 6: anode electrode drying. The residual moisture of anode electrodes including a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC material was measured using Karl Fischer to be 8.1% of the mass of the electrode composite. Eight stacks of 12 anode electrodes, with an area of approximately 369 cm2, were placed horizontally and evenly spaced on two shelves of a vacuum oven. These stacks were covered with aluminum plates of approximately 500 g. Both ovens and plates were preheated to 80° C. Electrodes were dried for 80 minutes under active vacuum. The final moisture was measured by Karl Fischer to be 7.1% of the mass of the electrode composite.

Cell Drying Process—General Examples

Example 7: cell drying. Cells, comprised of stacked anode and cathode electrodes interspersed with separator and placed inside of unsealed laminate packaging, may be arranged in a monolayer or may be stacked 2 -3 cells high and dried in a vacuum oven. The cells are dried under dynamic vacuum at a temperature of 95° C. for 60-120 mins, depending on batch size and desired target remaining moisture.

It may be advantageous to dry stacked cells as a unit, rather than drying individual electrodes or a number of anode electrodes or cathode electrodes, either to improve the efficiency, yield, or cost of the drying process and downstream processes (collectively, manufacturing considerations), or to reach desired final RM.

It may be advantageous, for manufacturing considerations, or to reach desired final RM, to pre-dry the one or more anode or cathode electrodes prior to cell assembly, and then to subsequently dry the fully assembled cell stack. In certain cases, one electrode may be pre-dried from first RM to a second RM and during the cell drying step, to a further third RM, which may be greater or less than the second RM, due to the transfer of moisture between anode and cathode electrodes during the cell drying step. In this way, the final moisture targets of both electrodes can be designed and achieved through complementary drying steps.

Furthermore, it may be advantageous, due to manufacturing considerations, or desired final material moisture to choose a drying condition that removes more water from the electrode materials than the desired final target, in anticipation of moisture reabsorption during subsequent processing steps.

5. Cell Drying Process—Specific Examples

Example 8: cell drying. A lot of 8 stacked cells in unsealed laminate pouches were prepared. Prior to drying, representative electrode samples were measured with Karl Fischer. The cathodes were found to have a first RM, RMc(1) of 18.4% and the anode was found to have a first RM, RMa(1) of 8.1%. The cells were loaded into a vacuum oven and covered with aluminum compression plates weighing approximately 500 g. Both the oven and plates were preheated to 90° C. Cells were dried under active vacuum for 90 mins before removal from the oven. A cell was disassembled, and samples taken for Karl Fischer moisture measurements. A second RM of the electrodes was measured. For the cathode, a second RMc(2) was measured to be 14.0% and for the anode, a second RMa(2) was measured to be 5.8%. A net decrease in RM was observed for each of the two electrodes.

6. General Concepts for Examples:

1. Equipment Set-Up

The drying system consists of a vacuum oven that is connected to a vacuum pump, with a solvent trap along the vacuum line between the oven and the pump. A digital pressure gauge is used to precisely monitor the pressure achieved in the vacuum oven during drying. Before drying, the oven should be preheated and stabilized to the desired temperature, and the solvent trap must be pre-frozen. Under full vacuum with a pre-frozen solvent trap and pre-heated oven, a pressure of <0.2 ton should be achieved when the oven is empty. This confirms that all seals in the system are acceptable.

2. Re-Absorption

Dried electrodes are very hygroscopic and tend to re-absorb moisture from their environment. Particularly, electrodes may re-absorb moisture from humidity in the air, or they may absorb moisture from another electrode, when coming into contact with that electrode during cell stacking.

It may be advantageous to pre-dry electrodes to a moisture that is below the optimal RM, in anticipation of the electrodes re-absorbing moisture from humid air during downstream processes.

It may be advantageous to dry one set of electrodes to moisture a<b where moisture b is the optimal RM for that electrode set (anode or cathode), and then stack that set of electrodes into a cell where the other electrodes have moisture x>y where y is the optimal RM for that set of electrodes (anode or cathode). The moisture transfer between electrodes during cell stacking can bring both sets of electrodes to their optimal RM's b and y. If moisture transfer from cell stacking is insufficient, subsequent drying of the cell stack can enhance the moisture transfer between electrode sets.

FIG. 12 illustrates a specific capacity of electrodes containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode material as a function of the residual moisture of the electrodes after drying.

FIG. 13 illustrates a total impedance and charge transfer resistance of electrodes containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode material as a function of the residual moisture of the electrodes after drying.

FIG. 14 illustrates an electrochemical impedance spectra of electrodes containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode material as a function of the residual moisture of the electrodes after drying.

FIG. 15 illustrates a total impedance and charge transfer resistance of electrodes containing a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate TMCCC cathode material as a function of the residual moisture of the electrodes after drying.

FIG. 12-FIG. 14 illustrate that the specific capacity of the anode electrodes decreases for dryer, lower RM electrodes. In addition, the total impedance and the charge transfer resistance increase for dryer, lower RM anodes. This evidences that the lower the RM, the greater the degradation in performance of the anode electrodes.

FIG. 15 illustrates that the total impedance and charge transfer resistance increase for dryer, lower RM cathodes. The onset of performance degradation, as evidenced by an increase in total impedance and charge transfer resistance, occurs below 3% RM for the cathodes, and below 7% for the anodes. This evidences that the drying conditions to optimize the performance of a TMCCC electrode depend on the composition of the TMCCC material the electrode contains.

FIG. 16 illustrates a specific capacity of the capacity-limiting electrode of a full cell containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode and a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate TMCCC cathode. The capacity decreases as the weighted average residual moisture of the two electrodes decreases;

FIG. 17 illustrates a power density and energy density of the capacity-limiting electrode of a full cell containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode and a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate TMCCC cathode. Both the power density and energy density decrease as the weighted average residual moisture of the two electrodes decreases;

FIG. 18 illustrates an electrochemical impedance spectra of full cells containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode and a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate TMCCC cathode as a function of the weighted average residual moisture of the two electrodes.

FIG. 19 illustrates a service life of full cells containing a sodium manganese hexacyanomanganate TMCCC anode and a sodium manganese iron hexacyanoferrate TMCCC cathode during float testing at 45° C. In this test, the cell was continuously floated at a maximum voltage of 1.859 V and fully discharged at a 1C rate once daily. The cells having the lowest weighted average residual moisture are most stable and have the longest life.

FIG. 16-FIG. 18 illustrate that the trends observed for individual cathodes and anodes are also true for full cells. The dryer the electrodes in the full cell, the lower the cell's capacity, power, and energy, and the higher their impedance. However, FIG. 19 illustrates that the longest service life is achieved by cells that contain the driest electrodes. Therefore, an optimal cell will contain electrodes that include an intermediate amount of residual moisture that strikes an optimum balance between performance metrics such as cell life (favoring dryer electrodes) and high capacity and low resistance (favoring wetter electrodes).

FIG. 20 tabulates the initial and final residual moistures, coordinated water, and non-coordinated water for selected examples. In each case, the non-coordinated water decreases during processing of the samples including a dehydration step. The temperature used during the dehydration step was no more than 120° C., which allowed selective removal of non-coordinated water from the TMCCC sample without removal of the coordinated water.

To determine the composition of each TMCCC material, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) and Karl Fischer (KF) analysis was performed. The ICP data was analyzed using KF data for the value of oxygen, and then forcing charge balance to the known initial state of charge of the TMCCC material. Coordinated water content was then assumed to be directly proportional to the vacancy molar fraction. The non-water content of the material is expressed as 100% mass basis, and water is expressed as an additional mass percentage over this basis. KF values measured for electrodes were converted from % total electrode mass as a function of sample weight (regardless of water content) to instead reflect water mass percentage with respect to the non-water TMCCC mass, which is always normalized to 100%. The stoichiometric ratio of coordinated and uncoordinated water is used to determine the undried proportion of water as measured by KF. For these calculations it is assumed that all non-coordinated water is removed during drying before any coordinated water.

FIG. 21 tabulates example compositions of two TMCCC materials on a molar basis and provides example calculations of the residual moisture on a mass percentage basis from these molar compositions. The coordinated water is proportional to the vacancy content of each TMCCC material, while the non-coordinated water depends on the synthesis and processing conditions before the measurement of composition.

Conclusion

Reference [2] and Reference [3] teach that any amount of trace water in a cell results in degraded cell performance. Embodiments of the present invention are believed novel and non-obvious because, at least in part, TMCCC electrodes are dried to a nonzero RM in which the presence of some water in the materials, within a described range, actually improves cell performance, thereby allowing it to be optimized.

The concept of performing a single dehydrating/hydrating process on a fully assembled cell stack is also believed novel and non-obvious. Such a process is practical because, at least in part, a nonzero RM is desired and implemented. The reason for this is that the composition of a TMCCC material determines its affinity for water and the equilibrium RM is reached at a particular ambient temperature and pressure. When two electrodes, each containing a unique TMCCC material, are placed in proximity with one another, the one that has a higher affinity for water and a higher equilibrium RM will absorb water from the other until the two of them reach an equilibrium. Performing a drying/hydrating step on a cell stack containing two TMCCC electrodes may therefore result in a transfer of water from one electrode to the other in addition to the net loss of water observed in a conventional drying process. This water transfer between electrodes may further degrade the performance of the electrochemical cell.

Performing a single drying step on a cell stack is therefore advantageous for two reasons. First, it is a simpler process than performing separate drying steps on each of the two electrodes before assembly into a cell stack. Second, the single drying step results in both a net loss of water (net drying) of the whole cell stack, but also a net transfer of water between the two electrodes until they reach an equilibrium with one another. A chemical equilibrium represents a system's most stable state at a particular set of conditions (temperature, pressure, etc.). A cell stack in which the two electrodes each contain an equilibrium amount of water is most stable, and the least possible amount of that water will be chemically active. Therefore, by equilibrating the two electrodes with one another via a single drying step, the optimal RM for optimal cell performance may be achieved while simultaneously reaching an equilibrium in which the RM of each of the two electrodes is most chemically stable and least reactive.

FIG. 20 illustrates the residual moisture, coordinated water, and non-coordinated water before and after drying for selected examples described herein. By expressing the residual moisture in this way, it is possible to have a discussion of the water in the composition of matter of the material. FIG. 21 illustrates selected compositions of examples described herein. For both the anode and cathode, the composition of the material is reported on a molar basis. Further, the residual moisture, coordinated water, and non-coordinated water are calculated on a mass percentage basis. Thus, the residual moistures measured for each sample in the specification are related back to the compositions of the TMCCC materials of those examples. For example, the composition of the as-synthesized anode includes n=1.6 and m=1.1 (following the description of composition used herein). In this case, m=1.1 corresponds to 7% non-coordinated water for the as-synthesized material. That decreases during the processing as described herein. For instance, in example 1, the final non-coordinated water is 6.1%, which corresponds to m=0.96.

The TMCCC materials as initially manufactured may have non-coordinated water in the range of about 5-15%, which corresponds to about m=1.0 to 2.0. In FIG. 21, it is shown that for each of the examples included that, post-processing, non-coordinated water is reduced to about 0-10%, or equivalently, to about m=0 to 1.5.

REFERENCES—EXPRESSLY INCORPORATED HEREIN BY REFERENCE THERETO

Reference [1]—Imhof, R. In Situ Investigation of the Electrochemical Reduction of Carbonate Electrolyte Solutions at Graphite Electrodes. J. Electrochem. Soc., 145, 1081-1087 (1998)

Reference [2]—U.S. Pat. No. 9,099,718 B2 (Lu 718)

Reference [3]—Wu, J, et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 139, 18358-18364 (2017),

The system and methods above have been described in general terms as an aid to understanding details of preferred embodiments of the present invention. In the description herein, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of components and/or methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. Some features and benefits of the present invention are realized in such modes and are not required in every case. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that an embodiment of the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other apparatus, systems, assemblies, methods, components, materials, parts, and/or the like. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not specifically shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of embodiments of the present invention.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “a specific embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention and not necessarily in all embodiments. Thus, respective appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment”, “in an embodiment”, or “in a specific embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics of any specific embodiment of the present invention may be combined in any suitable manner with one or more other embodiments. It is to be understood that other variations and modifications of the embodiments of the present invention described and illustrated herein are possible in light of the teachings herein and are to be considered as part of the spirit and scope of the present invention.

It will also be appreciated that one or more of the elements depicted in the drawings/figures can also be implemented in a more separated or integrated manner, or even removed or rendered as inoperable in certain cases, as is useful in accordance with a particular application.

Additionally, any signal arrows in the drawings/Figures should be considered only as exemplary, and not limiting, unless otherwise specifically noted. Combinations of components or steps will also be considered as being noted, where terminology is foreseen as rendering the ability to separate or combine is unclear.

The foregoing description of illustrated embodiments of the present invention, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed herein. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention are described herein for illustrative purposes only, various equivalent modifications are possible within the spirit and scope of the present invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize and appreciate. As indicated, these modifications may be made to the present invention in light of the foregoing description of illustrated embodiments of the present invention and are to be included within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Thus, while the present invention has been described herein with reference to particular embodiments thereof, a latitude of modification, various changes and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosures, and it will be appreciated that in some instances some features of embodiments of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as set forth. Therefore, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the essential scope and spirit of the present invention. It is intended that the invention is not limited to the particular terms used in following claims and/or to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include any and all embodiments and equivalents falling within the scope of the appended claims. Thus, the scope of the invention is to be determined solely by the appended claims. 

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent of the United States is:
 1. An electrochemical cell, comprising: a cell stack having a liquid anhydrous electrolyte, an anode electrode, a separator, and a cathode electrode, said electrodes electrochemically communicated with said liquid electrolyte; wherein at least one of said electrodes includes a hydrated transition metal cyanide coordination compound material having a composition conforming to formula I, formula I including A_(x)P_(y)[R(CN)₆]_(z)(H₂O)_(n); wherein A identifies as one or more alkali cations and P and R each represent one or more divalent or trivalent transition metal cations; wherein 0.5<z<1; wherein x, y, and z are related based on electrical neutrality, x>0, y>0, z>0; and wherein n=6*(1-z)+m, and wherein n>0; wherein 6*(1−z) identifies as a quantity of lattice bound water and m identifies as a quantity of non-coordinated water; wherein m≥0; wherein 0≤x≤2, and y=1.
 2. The electrochemical cell of claim 1 wherein said hydrated transition metal cyanide coordination compound material includes a water content at least 0.01% by weight.
 3. The electrochemical cell of claim 1 wherein z is about equal to
 1. 4. The electrochemical cell of claim 2 wherein z is about equal to
 1. 5. The electrochemical cell of claim 1 wherein said quantity m interstitial water being equivalent to a weight percentage M =m*W_(H2O)/W_(dry)*100%, with W_(H2O) being the molecular weight of water and W_(dry) being the molecular weight for the composition of formula I excluding all of its water content.
 6. The electrochemical cell of claim 2 wherein said quantity m interstitial water being equivalent to a weight percentage M=m*W_(H2O)/W_(dry)*100%, with W_(H2O) being the molecular weight of water and W_(dry) being the molecular weight for the composition of formula I excluding all of its water content.
 7. The electrochemical cell of claim 3 wherein said quantity m interstitial water being equivalent to a weight percentage M=m*W_(H2O)/W_(dry)*100%, with W_(H2O) being the molecular weight of water and W_(dry) being the molecular weight for the composition of formula I excluding all of its water content.
 8. The electrochemical cell of claim 1 wherein P includes a first P multivalent transition metal cation and includes a second P multivalent transition metal cation different from said first P multivalent transition metal cation.
 9. The electrochemical cell of claim 8 wherein said first P multivalent transition metal cation includes a multivalent iron cation.
 10. The electrochemical cell of claim 9 wherein said second P multivalent transition metal cation includes a multivalent manganese cation.
 11. The electrochemical cell of claim 8 wherein said first P multivalent transition metal cation includes a multivalent manganese cation.
 12. The electrochemical cell of claim 1 wherein R includes a first R multivalent transition metal cation and includes a second R multivalent transition metal cation different from said first R multivalent transition metal cation.
 13. The electrochemical cell of claim 12 wherein said first R multivalent transition metal cation includes a multivalent iron cation.
 14. The electrochemical cell of claim 13 wherein said second R multivalent transition metal cation includes a multivalent manganese cation.
 15. The electrochemical cell of claim 12 wherein said first R multivalent transition metal cation includes a multivalent manganese cation.
 16. The electrochemical cell of claim 8 wherein R includes a first R multivalent transition metal cation and includes a second R multivalent transition metal cation different from said first R multivalent transition metal cation.
 17. The electrochemical cell of claim 16 wherein said first multivalent transition metal cations each include a multivalent iron cation.
 18. The electrochemical cell of claim 16 wherein said first multivalent transition metal cations each include a multivalent manganese cation.
 19. The electrochemical cell of claim 17 wherein said second multivalent transition metal cations each include a multivalent manganese cation.
 20. The electrochemical cell of claim 2 wherein said hydrated transition metal cyanide coordination compound material includes a water content less than about 12% by weight. 